Jax Panik, To Our Divine & Stepdog at the Purple Turtle

Wed
18 May 2011

The middle part of Wednesday is a blur of fever and delirium – I started feeling really sick round lunchtime and was then comatose till round 8. I hate sleeping in the afternoon because I always wake up disorientated and mildly freaked out; luckily I felt significantly less sick upon waking and was still determined to head to the Purple Turtle and attempt to survive what was sure to be a night of madness and high energy with Jax Panik.

Stepdog were about halfway through their set when we arrived. I thought them a pretty weird choice to support Jax Panik but the crowd didn’t seem to mind the musical mismatch and were pretty supportive. This was the my third time seeing them live and I must say, I think they’re growing on me every time.

Whenever I see them, I wait for Lola, the track I well and truly like. I was beginning to think I’d missed it when they introduced it as ‘a song for strange people’ – I thought that was pretty funny…

Up next were To Our Divine – I’d never heard of them before, but was helpfully informed by a guy behind me (who said they were close friends from school) that they were a Christian band and were really awesome…can’t say that description filled me with hope…

“Do you think they’re trying to be the new Locnville…?’ Tamara mused as the two guys flanking the open laptop on the stage started playing. I laughed because they were kinda similar, except that To Our Divine had guitars (and the one guy even beat a drum dramatically…though just during one song, leaving it neglected in the middle of the stage for the rest of the set).

Musically though, as Jonny pointed out, they sound pretty much exactly like Two Door Cinema Club (who incidentally are listed first among their influences on Facebook)…I quite liked their guitar sound but can’t say I’m a fan of them. All their songs sounded exactly the same and were really formulaic…plus everytime I hear someone refer to something as ‘dubstep’ I die a little inside…

My memory’s a bit hazy because of my sickly state, but the wait between To Our Divine and Jax Panik was really long…and filled with Skrillex assaulting the speakers (and my left ear, as I was standing right next to a speaker…). The Panik guys trickled onto the stage in dribs and drabs with Jax bouncing out every now and then, dancing to Skrillex like a man possessed.

Finally they started, only to stop 2 songs in to fix a distortion problem. Even after all the delays, it didn’t seem like anyone minded too much, and if they did, they soon forgot once the band started playing again.

I’ve seen Jax Panik live quite often and always have a great time. This was the first time I’d seen them indoors and so the vibe in the club was a little different, more concentrated and frantic but as highly enjoyable as ever.