Ray-Ban presents: The best of @Texxonfire

Sat 29 September 2012

I’ve been shooting #Tuesonfire at &Union since the beginning of the year, so really enjoyed reliving some of the highlights by watching a collection of some of the standout performers – Motheo Moleko, Matthew Mole, Shannon Strange, Manny Walters & The Width and Dallas & Alexia – at the Assembly last Saturday.

Dallas & Alexia were half-way through their penultimate track when I arrived. While I can’t say their variety of stripped down punk rock is my favourite, it’s hard not smile while watching them.

I really enjoyed Manny Walters & The Width’s performance at &Union. This time around they’d swapped their drums for a keyboard and saxophone which added a more atmospheric feel and a touch of jazz to their laid-back acoustic-soul-folk.

Again, I don’t really listen to a lot of music in this genre (not that I’ve actually specified a genre as it’s a little hard to define their sound) but I think Manny Walters has a great voice and I enjoy the mood of his music.

Shannon Strange’s gig at &Union sticks in my mind because it was the only one I’d been to that happened inside because of the rain. It was also particularly fun. Frontwoman Shannon Devy has loads of charisma, both in her lyrics and her performance. She was entertaining sitting down at &Union but she was even more so when given reign of the Assembly’s stage.

Another band that’s guaranteed to get you dancing and smiling.

The Robfather provided the inbetween tunes, and did so pretty well apart from when Matthew Mole and drummer Jack Straw stood around waiting while he let MIA’s Paper Planes finish before they could start…it was pretty awkward but funny…

There’s a lot of hype around Matthew Mole and, watching him, it’s easy to see why. His music is instantly accessible, infectious and enjoyable. Though it’s teetering on the verge of being a little too wholesome for my taste, I really enjoyed both his set at &Union and (the ironically the more unplugged performance at) The Assembly.

Fresh from his first tour to Joburg, he’ll soon be headed to London to play the legendary 100 Club, an honour earned by recently winning Converse’s Get out of the Garage competition. If he isn’t considered a success yet, Matthew Mole will be very soon.

Motheo Moleko, best known as part of Jeremy Loops’ ‘& Co’, performed his own material for the first time at &Union a month ago, to a very large and appreciative crowd. His reception at the Assembly was no different – given a mic he captivates, and given a stage he dominates. My favourite hip-hop is the melodic kind, so I particularly appreciate that Motheo works with a live band and doesn’t rap over backing tracks, it just adds so much more soul.

Sideshow closed up the night, keeping the dancing going into the morning.