Kid Kapichi arrived in Birmingham on the penultimate date of a twelve date UK leg of their `There Goes the Neighbourhood Tour` named after their recently released third album before they head to Europe for a further nine dates then over to North America for a final thirteen dates in May.
First up tonight we have Dumb Buoys Fishing Club, a duo comprising DanDLion (Dan Bartlett) & Havelock, who mix a high energy performance with synth-laden beats. Their album `Wrecked` came out last September and amongst the tracks shared tonight were the thumping `Fortune Teller`, quite enticing `Life Jacket`, `Redzone` and `Drop In The Ocean`. Their well-received thirty minute set which included synchronised dancing and some robotic like moves had this packed crowd singing along with their `Yeah Yeahs` before they closed out with the recent `Pull Up` single. A kind of Beastie Boys meets Kurupt FM.
Glaswegians Dead Pony followed pretty quickly. Vocalist Anna Shields, guitarist Blair Crichton, bassist Liam Adams and drummer Euan Lyons make up this post-punk quartet. Their debut album `Ignore This` was released last week and they shared a few tracks from it with cuts like `MK Nothing`, `About Love`, and `Cobra` before closing out with `MANA`. For me this was a fairly enjoyable half hour which had a slight Prodigy-like vibe throughout.
Kid Kapichi are frontman Jack Wilson (lead vocal and guitar),Ben Beetham (lead vocal and guitar), Eddie Lewis (bass guitar) and George MacDonald (drums) and this evening share a blistering seventy five minutes of mostly songs from their recent release and previous album `Here`s What You Could Have Won`.
The first three cuts are from `TGTN` with the heavy deep hypnotic `Artillery`, thumping `Let’s Get to Work` and jagged `999` before the fellas come up for air. `5 Days On (2 Days Off)` has a kind of bravado not arrogance before the reflective `I.N.V.U.` a diatribe about social media rings out.
Jack shares that `Tamagotchi` is about turning thirty and this number that is named after a virtual pet toy released in the late nineties has some amusing and really clever wordplay with Ninja turtles, panda pops, cd walkmans and Sunny D all getting namechecked on route.
We have a bit of a time out for the mainly acoustic `Party at No. 10` about how it`s one rule for the government while we have to follow the rules and suck it up. The intensity returns with `Working Man’s Town` which for me was kind of Kasabian on acid before `Zombie Nation` a SKA infused number that Suggs contributed vocals to on the record and was dedicated to Terry Hall from The Specials.
`Can EU Hear Me?` races along at 110 mph before `Subaru` was aired for what I think was the first time and had this packed audience singing along. Dumb Buoys Fishing Club join the boys for `New England` a pretty good trade as it`s Bob Vylan on the album.
There`s a pretty emotive time out as the stripped back `Jimi` an eulogy to a friend of the band who passed away rings out before the introspective `Special` relates a tale of lockdown and depression ends the show. It`s interrupted towards the end as somebody in the audience seems to have passed out.
The band return with a couple more numbers for an encore with the pounding `Get Down` and driving `Smash The Gaff` before leaving this sated and satisfied frantic crowd to filter off home.
A pretty intense evening was had by all with three enthusiastic and passionate bands crowned by East Sussex`s finest. When I thought of Hastings up to now, only the Norman Conquest has come to mind, but tonight Kid Kapichi certainly changed history for me.
Kid Kapichi played a local pub with a capacity of ninety on a previous visit to the second city and on the strength of tonight`s performance to a practically sold out crowd of six hundred, bigger and better things await them on their return.
