Thursday 02/02/06 Rotating Leslie @ The Magnet, Liverpool

The first of an 18-gig tour of the UK began tonight for this powerful 5-piece from Hertfordshire. Granted the turn out is only a handful; but this setback doesn’t stop the band from putting on one a hell of a show.

The gig is kicked off with the strongest song of the entire set ‘Fire Fire!’, an extremely energetic number, with punchy guitar, and scorching vocals that were resonant of the teeming emotional fury expressed by Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen. Next up ‘Underestimate’ a song that at first oozes the hazy broken beats of reggae, but then glides into more conventional rock. Furious rhythm guitar scraped alongside demanding lyrics, singer screaming Greg Phizacklea “Never underestimate me. And you will never underestimate me”. They continue with the Walkmen style poses and vocals with the next song, ‘Out of Touch’. By this point, the sound of choppy guitars are starting to manifest themselves as the bands’ signature approach to their song writing.
 
Probably flagging a little towards the end of the show, it’s assumable that Rotating Leslie are feeling disheartened by the lack of crowd. The handful that sat on the steps aside the stage press the band for “just one more song”, to which they agree. Three songs later, they call it a day. Tonight Rotating Leslie are too big to be so contained on the squashed stage of The Magnet, and the only thing that is missing is a crowd which they certainly deserve on this performance. It’s obvious that had there been more punters, the show would have been electric.