Institute of Contemporary Arts

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT: The Maccabees and Goldspot

Date: 28 July 2007

 

A night with the Maccabees and Goldspot was fun and energised. I immediately felt the lack of the video cameras from Channel 4’s At It Productions for this one; it should have been caught on film with both acts doing a tremendous job of cheering the crowds and getting them to move and dance. Things started with Goldspot, a friendly, funny band who I was lucky enough to ‘hang out’ with before they went on (these are Cali boys man), so check out the gallery. They began as they meant to go on, all high energy beats and  no-one can question the buoyant efforts made by Siddhartha, lead singer and writer of much of the bands music. He put everything into each of his songs and pleased the crowds with new and older tunes, a couple of which I recognised and some that took me happily by surprise. You can definitely hear the twinkly sunshine of California in their music. To give an example, there is a triangle sounding percussive noise that twinkled through Rewind from their new album, adding a sprinkling of sunshine to what is a bubbly poppy track to start with. And in several of their songs there is the merry sound of the ukulele, reminding me a teeny bit of Israel kamakawiwo, the Hawaiian musician who sings the sweet version of Over the Rainbow, that I know, embarrassingly, from American romantic comedy 50 First Dates. Goldspot’s is basically a happy sound. Tracks like The Guard use heavier, minor chords reminiscent of the Pixies, but Goldspot stay cleaner than them, keeping things on a jingle jangle vibe that never gets too heavy.  In their new single Friday they start with a striking romantic string intro that sounds part way 50’s musical and part Indian bollywood noise, a reflection of Siddhartha’s parentage that uplifts and embellishes the song, made all the stronger with Siddhartha’s strong voice that sounds a bit like a young Paul McCartney with its wide range and well pronounced vowels.

Goldspot were fun to watch and I captured several of the dramatic moments on camera, where Siddhartha could be seen elongating all his limbs, pointing, dancing, running and jumping up and down onto the floor. The final song Time Bomb had him completely loose it on stage. They were the perfect warm up for what was an even mightier energy soar from the Maccabees...

I met the band earlier in the evening when I got them to sign the visitor book. They seemed really kind and not arrogant at all; their rise to success is clearly increasing their  inspirations not the size of their heads. Why else would they take the time to hand print their signature page with beautiful stamps from a second hand store as told to me by Orlando.

I was a bit older than the majority of the crowd their on Saturday I will confess, The Maccabees attracted a younger teenage and young twenty something crowd.  I must have been the only one there not to have not seen them live before, and I was expecting it to all be a bit indie and noisy for my taste. But forget that, they were brilliant. Each of the band members brought something individual to the show.  Orlando has to be loved for his quirky moves, robotic shoulders and that deep resonating voice that fills every word. He also kept the fans happy by throwing out his mic for them to catch and throw back at him, a nice touch made possible by being in such a nice cosy space.  Felix had this way with the crowds and often bent down to get on their level, while also raising his arms and smiling and clapping. Hugo and Rupert kept things a bit more 'cool', (there were a lot of adolescent boys in the crowd remember) and concentrated on their impressive riffs (with the odd cheeky smile thrown in). I felt I had  to tell Rupert afterwards (when they all joined the public bar area afterwards), how impressed I was with his lightning speed scales up the guitar that sounded like magical spells; hard to explain, but if you know their music, I’m sure you’ll understand. And of course, one mustn’t forget Dylan who kept them all in time nicely from his place behind the drums acting as a nice taxi for Orlando when it all finished – the piggy back being one of the least serious ways to gallivant off stage so far this festival.

All in all I loved it. I enjoyed each and every one of their songs, the added 50’s romantic intro to Toothpaste Kisses (or it might have been Diamond Solitaire?) had all the girls swooning and me wishing that I was just that bit younger. These boys have surely got that good old fashioned crush factor; and I found myself nearly blushing when I was given Felix’s email at the end. (for pictures obviously) Oh Torie, stop that now.

For those fans who want to know what else they played and what had us all jumping about and bobbing our heads;  here is their set list: (To go a bit NME style for you)

Colour It In

Latchmere

Good Old Bill

All In Your Rows

Mary

About Your Dress

Sore Throat

Diamond Solitaire

Toothpaste Kisses

Precious Time

Tissue Soldiers

X-Ray

First Love and finally..

Lego

All in all a wonderful night and I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

 

Torie Speyer

 

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