I’ve mentioned that I’m not Zula’s biggest fan and so generally avoid going there. I’ll break my boycott for certain line-ups though, and last Friday’s qualified: Woodstock Mafia launched their EP (well worth a listen) along with Wolftown and The Great Apes. Plus Juke Royal were playing downstairs, a nice bonus.

Juke Royal gave another cool performance (their second ever) downstairs (with Kill Disco and The Rescu) – we caught some of their set before heading upstairs. I hadn’t seen the downstairs area since the grand re-opening and there’d been some noticeable changes since then – a bizarre ‘rustic’ section of wooden tables and chairs (both on ground-level and up a ladder on a balcony) had been added to the corner for some reason I can’t quite see, and the lighting wasn’t as nice as last time, but at least the sound wasn’t bad.

There’d been a tiny crowd downstairs, but the main stage was pretty packed when we arrived halfway through Wolftown’s set. I wasn’t overly sold on them at their launch and am still not a huge fan of their sound, but they do it well and seemed better than the last time round.

It seems kinda weird to me that even though it was their EP launch, Woodstock Mafia played in the middle of the lineup. I admit, it was not my favourite performance of theirs but I blame this on the general glumness I always seem to feel at Zula…

At one point I did find myself thinking that the sound was better than previously, then I realised that they’d just made everything extremely loud; the resulting deafness dulled any other imperfections. They also closed in the stage area a bit (solving the disappearing bassists problem), extended the front and ditched the smoke machine completely, changes I welcomed whole-heartedly. Unfortunately (the lack of smoke meant) the lighting wasn’t great. Yes, I’m moaning a lot but I’ve never felt like this about a venue – being there just puts me on edge.

Anyway, Papa Smurf was back in the front row having a great time and there were 3 stagedivers (4 if you include vocalist Joe Theron’s) so the gig was officially a rocking one. If I have any criticism of their EP, it’s that it lacks that extra bit of energy they have at their gigs – still highly recommend though, but live on stage is when they’re really at their best.

Another weird thing about the night was the fact that the crowd seemed to undergo a complete overhaul for each act – Wolftown’s fans were arguably the tamest, Woodstock Mafia’s a lot rougher and The Great Apes’ pretty damn terrifying and even downright feral (some nutter bit Jess and the guy next to me kept trying to grab my arm and shake me).

Last time I saw the Great Apes was at Ramfest during the afternoon, which was pretty bizarre; they definitely made a lot more sense on the small stage in the dark room. By then I was pretty much deaf so haven’t the slightest idea what any of their songs are about but they’re great fun to watch and ridiculously energetic.

While they were setting up they whipped out this circular piece of PVC pipe into which they screwed some lightbulbs and, in a neat trick, got it to all light up in time with the bass drum. It was only with the added light it became clear how truly insufficient the lighting had been previously…

I’m not sure if it was the addition of the lightbulbs or just the inevitable sound screw-up but halfway through one of their tracks the sound just died. The headbanging hecklers were not amused, and neither were the band, who already seemed incredibly pissed off in general. They were able to continue eventually (though the power died and returned again a bit later) but unfortunately had to do so without the awesome bulb rig.

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Have a listen to Woodstock Mafia’s EP on Facebook

The Great Apes  |  Wolftown

Juke Royal

Photos on Facebook over here.