Rolling Stone Weekend sounded a bit like a mini festival – 10 up-and-coming acts over 2 days at the Mercury/Shack complex as well as DJs. I checked out the Friday night featuring Crimson House Blues, Lucy Kruger, The Mysticcs, Tape Hiss and Sparkle, Beach Party and Youngsta.
I’m not a huge fan of Crimson House Blues, so timed my arrival to coincide with the tail-end of their set…
Back in June, I saw Lucy Kruger at #Tuesonfire and really enjoyed her music, so was looking forward to seeing her again. Aside from being decidedly blonder, her set-up was pretty much the same as the acoustic show at &Union. Again, I really enjoyed her set – her songs are all varied and interesting which isn’t always the case for singer-songwriters.
The Mysticcs are a lot of fun to watch; though they had a different bassist from the one I’d seen before they were as energetic and loud as ever…
The show had started really early (7pm) but 2 and a half hours in it seemed to be as full as it was going to get, which was really nowhere near the turnout I was expecting…
Much like the Bone Collectors’ album launch the week before, the sparse crowd (and diversity of the acts) made it really obvious to see the swapping in and out of fans for each set. I think I identified most with Tape Hiss and Sparkle‘s crowd; at least the fact that the place wasn’t packed meant that everyone was pretty quiet and attentive during his set.
I’ve played Paperhawk a lot since attending the launch in June and really enjoyed watching TH&S’s sincere and fragile live renditions again. He even managed to make a 90s Rnb song (by Mariah Carey I think) not only bearable but actually quite lovely.
Props to Beach Party (also sporting a new bassist), if the small crowd had bothered them at all they really didn’t show it – they gave out loads of energy and even managed a bit of a mosh-pit, first on-stage then out in the crowd. They also really played to the camera, (particularly vocalist ‘Danny Video’, who at one point crawled so close to my lens it couldn’t focus) which was really cool.
Banjo-blues, acoustic singer-songwriters, electric rockers and then finally rap – Youngsta rounded off the night’s varied line-up. I saw a bit of his set at The Assembly at the end of last year but don’t really remember much apart from the cast of thousands up on the stage; this time it was just him and his beatmaker ‘The Muffinman’.
I have to admit that while I found his lyrics clever and amusing, the backing beats felt a little too generic for me. I don’t think they’ll hold him back or anything, I’m just a fan of more melodic/organic hip-hop in general.
I left halfway through Youngsta’s set which was around 11:30. The night was a bit odd overall but I liked the idea of it…On the plus side, it ran very punctually which was great and it was over relatively early – as someone who loves sleep but never gets enough of it, I’ll make no secret of being pleased anytime I can head home before midnight.
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Rolling Stone Weekends | Beach Party | Youngsta | Tape Hiss and Sparkle
The Mysticcs | Lucy Kruger | Crimson House Blues
