I walk in to find the academy 3 quite full, which is always a good, as it builds an atmosphere as this room isn’t the largest. It also makes for a hot and sweaty night which is allot of fun, with the correct music that is.
First up is Johnny Headband, this 3 piece, band from
Detroit, have a member of the legendary electric 6 as its main man(bassist
Smorgasbord who goes by his actual name Keith Thompson) so at least you know
they're going to be energetic. They start by walking out all dressed in white
and go straight into a track with no talking, it's fast it's bassy with a nice
mix of high hats for good measure. The sound is disco, synth but with a nice
bit of dance thrown in for good measure, they sound in parts like MGMT but in
most songs you can tell they are still down the same vein as Electric 6. Keith
keeps to his Korg and laptop set up for the most part but when he can, he breaks
away and dances with the bassist and his brother Chad, which adds a bit of fun
to the show. They go a bit crazy towards the end with Chad switching to guitar
and thrashing about on stage, he then leaves whilst Keith gets the crowd to
count to 16 and then shout go, and when they do Chad returns to the stage and
jumps around like a mad man, until the song breaks down and they leave the
stage. The crowd are happy enough but the band doesn't really engage them
enough throughout the set and so it just feels like there filler instead of a
support. But they sound great, and have something with strains of uniqueness;
luckily the main show is up next that is all about entertaining the audience.
Tragedy in case you didn't know are from New York
and take on the alter egos of the Bee Gees, if the Bee Gees had missed disco
and had waited until the 80’s and tried metal instead, this is what would have
been born. A crazy mix of spandex and Flying V guitars coated in shiny studs.
Having never heard of them before I thought they might just be a boring tribute
act who bring nothing to the table other than the playing of the songs we all
know and love, well Tragedy are not this! They are amazing, literally amazing.
They put on a fun show, which sounds great which includes lots of stage antics
and shenanigans.
They engage the crowd before every track with
either a little skit normally involving they're handy man Lance (who is dressed
as a sailor and mops the stage and the band from spilt beer and sweat between
songs) or with an anecdote about the group or the next track. For example Robin
Gibson tells the crowd how the band came to be “I was living in New York and
Ginger from the Wildhearts was coming to the US for the first time and needed a
place to stay, so I heard about it and offered up my place. Due to this Tragedy, who were only ever going
to perform one gig, ended up touring the UK with him and have been back 6 times
since! Now we would love to keep doing this so please buy our merch, they’re
bound to get you laid as the t-shirts say I sweat glitter and cum confetti!”
They make each song unique and add a personal twist
whilst performing, with group head bangs, handing plectrums to the lady's in
the crowd, leaning on the barrier and kissing the fans (mainly the males),
throwing glitter around the stage and into the audience without them realising,
going to the back of the room and dancing on the bar whilst playing tambourine,
playing guitars with fire coming out the top, crowd surfing and of course
playing the songs with allot of heart and soul!
Now with all this talk about how they have a great
stage show it seems that I’m neglecting their actual talent, which you may
think doesn’t exist if they have to use all these tricks, but it does. They
play each song with great timing and skill; they real off into solos and have
great harmonies which do get on par with the Bee Gee’s throughout the show. I
didn’t realise how many Bee Gee’s songs I knew until they played them, as they
played loads including; Grease, Islands
In The Stream, Night fever, You Make Me Feel Like Dancing, Jive Talking, You
Should Be Dancing, How Deep is Your Love and Staying Alive.
After all of that, they leave the stage to huge
screams from this adoring crowd, after some time Robin Gibson returns to the
stage to tell everyone, how they’re not the type of band to come back out and
play an encore, they just don’t get paid enough. So instead a Donna Summer cover band will
come out who look and sound exactly like Tragedy called Hot Stuff, and with
that he gets the crowd to chant Hot Stuff, Hot Stuff over and over until the
rest of the band joins him on stage and they go into exactly that song! When
that comes to an end they get about 10 girls on stage from the crowd along with
a topless fat man to join them in another random cover of Bonnie Tyler’s; Total
Eclipse Of The Heart, with that the band clear the stage and go into the final
song of the night, Tragedy!
Tonight has been amazing, they are so entertaining
and are definitely a band you should go and watch! They're lots of fun and play
some great classics! So, who cares if Piers Morgan didn’t like them on
Britain’s Got Talent, he knows nothing about having fun, so if you do, then what
you waiting for? Go and see them, now!
2.5/5 Johnny Headband
5/5 Tragedy
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