Wings Of Hope Charity Gig. City Lights, As Daylight Dies, Kill The Image, So Long Seattle.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2. Saturday 14th January 2012.


Review by Martin Stapleton.

The first mainstage gig of 2012 is a charity fundraiser for WINGS OF HOPE. The young people who organised tonight deserve a huge pat on the back, taking the trouble to help people less fortunate than themselves. Well done!

The evening began with CITY LIGHTS. Although it's their last ever gig, the band or should I say primarily, their vocalist, spends as much time talking to his friends in the crowd as they actually do in playing. In fairness, however, he does bring a big smile to my face when in a moment of blind panic rage he shouts out mid-way through: Can anyone tell my mum to get away from the bloody stage! Ah, bless her, shes only four feet eleven inches in height! With the Wombats and Arctic Monkeys covered, the pick of their set was Take It Or Leave It?, which does bring out some crowd dancing. For their last ever song, they play a cover of I Got You (I Feel Good) . Its an unusual interpretation to say the very least. But CITY LIGHTS certainly here at Esquires go out with a mighty spectacular bang, and not with a pitiful whimper.

AS DAYLIGHT DIES return to Esquires and despite their guitarists chivvy baseball cap (thankfully he soon removes it) and that oh so infuriating R.A.T.M. cover, they continue to impress me immensely. Indeed, A.D.D. through their metal mood-scapes, allied to their pile-driving riffs of which they serve at such a devilish rate, do bring another dimension as they announce to the effect of girls and boys, Heres some electronic shit.! Its new song Desolated Ends which is a fantasy journey that takes us through a menacing effervescent electro trip A tough of pulsing synths, to nestle nicely between their low down filthy guitars; an energetic and bold experiment with which to work upon - always nice for young bands to try new ideas. Oh yes I almost forgot to say, Leo Featherstone escaped unscathed on this particular gig. Thankfully no blood! (Although D.I.Y. had to be carried out on their bassists guitar when his strap needed taping to his bass). You can always tell the age of an audience by where they stand. Tonight is certainly no exception. The youngsters all lurk in the very dark corners, but each band eventually cajole everyone to the front. An older crowd of course are always firmly glued to the bar!

KILL THE IMAGE is a four-piece female-fronted pop punk band who delight in some carefully co-ordinated bouncing up and down on stage. They do try to get some audience participation, but the only people that join in are two enthusiastic girls who earlier on were seen trying to Riverdance to CITY LIGHTS. I especially liked Danger Zone which is also to be found on the bands new E.P. Its an impressive C.D. which I bought and can heartily recommend. Tonight KILL THE IMAGE succeeded both visually and, more importantly, musically. They should take great credit.

SO LONG SEATTLE is in fact based in dear old Luton. This proves to be a rather strange set as midway through, the three members of the band leave the stage and just let their vocalist play solo to a couple of acoustic songs. This, I feel, rather disrupts the flow, and with it my rising interest which was initially strong. The set, for me, is brought to a juddering standstill, with way too much stage posturing. Sing with Me is something I would possibly not echo.

On a serious note, for a charity gig, there has been precious little mention of WINGS OF HOPE. No collecting tins or information of its work. An ideal opportunity for educating people was sorely missed I feel.

Reviewed by Martin Stapleton.

Wings Of Hope Charity

Videos Of The Night

Kill The Image C.D. Review

As Daylight Dies Interview (To Follow)