Last Saturday was one of the most surreal and enjoyable nights I’ve had in a long time – Ulterior, The Frown, The Wild Eyes and DJs Destrukto and Audiophile 021 put on an awesome show, the only problem was no-one showed up. People of Cape Town, you really missed out…
I’d been looking forward to this gig for quite a while and got even more excited when I was asked to take photos for The Assembly…so I arrived early, eager beaver that I am, to a deserted venue. I figured it was just Cape Town’s trademark laxness and hung around enjoying Destrukto’s (very cool) set and waiting for the night to take off…
Sadly things did not improve and the place was still really empty by the time The Frown took to the stage. I didn’t know much about them but saw they were compared to Lark quite a bit; having seen them I see where that comes from though I’d say their sound is less theatrical and operatic than Lark’s. It’s also a little sparser (which I actually prefer; Lark gets quite intense) but maybe that feeling was just enhanced because singer Eve Rakow left her regular collaborators in Joburg and performed alone (along with The Great Apes‘ Yusif Sayigh on the laptop).
She’s one of those really hypnotic performers with an interesting voice and some great tracks – hopefully The Frown will be back in Cape Town sometime, I’d like to see them again.
I love The Wild Eyes, they never seem to care whether they’re playing for a crowd 3 or 300 and are always entertaining. Their set was shorter than the last few times I’d seen them (or maybe it just felt that way, I dunno, the night was so weird, either way I missed Vanilla) but packed with their usual energy and tension. At least there was one advantage of the poor turnout – everyone had ample space to dance, and most used it.
I’d stumbled upon Ulterior some months ago on last.fm and liked their whole Sisters-of-Mercy-for-the-2000s thing they’ve got going on their debut album Wild in Wildlife. I’d been playing Dream Dream and Too in Love to Fuck to death for the last while so was super happy to hear them perform both live (as well as most of WIW).
Ulterior are a really cool live band, totally at ease on stage (and with an almost criminal ability to get away with wearing Wayfarers, aviators and John-Lennon-style sunglasses while performing) – I thought they were great.
I know I keep going on about the shitty attendance but it really surprised me – the supporting acts were great and the headliners were international, I dunno why that wasn’t good enough (but suspect the price was probably the biggest turn-off). We get precious few international musical visitors and should welcome and encourage them whenever we can. Hearing the vocalist introduce the band by saying ”we’re Alteehreeuh from fockin’ London” was great – it’d be so cool to hear foreign accents on our stages more often.
Audiophile 021 put on a brave face and played the closing set for the night…
I’ve gone to the Labia Theatre a couple of times where I’ve been one of 2 or 3 in the crowd and they screen the movie anyway – Saturday night felt a lot like that, like it was all some kind of private performance for the few of us who were there.
Again, in a way the exclusivity was really cool – I met and chatted with a lot of awesome people I wouldn’t have otherwise and feel like we all got to be part of something special. But seriously, I was embarrassed on behalf of my city and I really hope I won’t be next time around…
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More photos over at The Assembly’s site
Check out Ulterior on Facebook and their homepage
