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Red Organ Serpent Sound, the fantastically weird support tonight, are certainly a motley crew. Lead singer Rory Moore is a spectacle in his weird attire, and better still they've got The Terminator on guitar, a bassist straight out of a 70's supergroup, the drumer from Madness and a keyboardist from Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome. Genius. Not shy of over-the-top theatrics, and nobody could accuse them of not trying hard enough, but they were met mostly with bemusement. "What's Bristol famous for?" Moore asked, gamely trying to break the stoic wall of apathy confronting them. "Slave trade," came the muttered reply. Musically, it was pretty punchy stuff.
JJ72's elfin singer Mark Greaney was first to take the stage."Small in here, isn't it?" he said of the cramped broom cupboard that is the Fleece, but when he started bawling into the mic it seemed like no venue on earth could possibly be big enough for that voice. Love it or hate it, Greaney's got a pretty unique voiceand it sounds even better live - volumes of smooth, liquid lyrics from some black hole of emotion.
JJ72's re-ascending star was enough to draw plenty of casual support as well as the die-hards that such an intense group accumulates. They were raw and focused - a completely different entity to the heavily produced albums. The lineup change had done nothing to dull their spark, with newcomer Sarah Fox adopting Meg White's patented "I'm so spaced out right now" gaze, occasionally riffing furiously with the rest of the band. They're are a good live prospect because of the sheer number of sing-along anthems in their cannon, with easy-to-remember lyrics like, "Oo-oo-oo-oo," and "Ahhh-ah-ah". The set tonight was full of crowd pleasers – the bipolar 'October Swimmer', the soaring 'Formulae' and the pounding 'Serpent Sky'. Surprisingly, they held back many of the songs from the new album, but 'Coming Home' and 'Radio' had the crowd bouncing gleefully. In talking to the crowd throughout, Greaney revealed a gently self-deprecating confidence that didn't require a spandex jumpsuit to possess stage presence.
Despite confessed nervousness about the new material, a four song encore polished off a powerful set that left us in no doubt as to JJ72's fragile talent and passion. Excellent.
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