Sleaford Mods
...the fact that the whole night ended on current single Discourse shows how well received their new material has been.
Sleaford Mods have played Norwich twice before, once at the Waterfront, once at the LCR. Both were great gigs, but the Waterfront was the better of the two. Something about being closer to the action made it all that bit more intense, so I was especially glad that they were back there on their current Eton Alive tour. Support on these dates is Manchester all female three piece Liines, and they played an excellent 30 minute set. Their sound is resolutely bass driven post punk, with a touch of Poly Styrene to the vocals, but also reminded me of current bands like Savages and fellow Mancunians, and Norwich faves, PINS. Yes they were a tad one dimensional, but they were entertaining and one of the best support acts I’ve seen recently.
Sleaford Mods have come a long way since I first saw them back in 2014, and whilst they’ve grown and developed they haven’t always bettered some of those incredible early tracks they released. Having said that every new record brings with it a new batch of classics to add to the set – BHS from the last album is already a firm fan favourite and Kebab Spider off the new one is an instant classic. I found myself a bit conflicted at times last night though – for a band who are very inclusive and who were very vocal on social media recently when a female fan was groped at one of their gigs, they certainly attract a boorish element to their shows. Not that there was any real trouble last night, but there were several dickheads who did cause some irritation early on.
Everything worked itself out though and the crowd were really up for it, Saturday night is party night after all. In front of the stage there was a constant mass of dancing, although further back not too much seemed to be going on. The factor that prevented this from being a classic Mods show was Jason’s voice was too low in the mix, and clearly he is the main focal point. He’s still an amazing performer though, hard to take your eyes off at times and he was on good form last night, high fiving the crowd and enjoying the adulation. Andrew too was his customary cheerful self, laughing and having conversations with those at the front, and the sound mix did at least allow his innovative, sparse productions to shine. Some of those new songs sounded great – Big Burt & Flipside were brilliant, and the fact that the whole night ended on current single Discourse shows how well received their new material has been. Jolly Fucker, Jobseeker & Tied Up In Nottz still blow me away, but I so wish Fizzy still got an airing.
All in all this was a very good, rather than truly amazing Sleaford Mods show. Maybe having seen them before has lessened the impact, and it was a shame Jason hadn’t been louder, but I still drank and danced and sang and shouted my way through a great Saturday night in the company of a band who are still doing something that no-one else is.
