Just got back from seeing Nizlopi at the Welsh Club in Cardiff - a hole of a venue if ever there was one. The evening was cut short because they had a club night afters. Ironically as we left, we met one of the DJ's coming in - none other than Viv's brother Doug aka Chico Fresco. So we blame him.
This was the fourth time we'd seen Nizlopi and was possibly the least impressive of the gigs we've been to. The mix didn't seem right on the sound for a good proportion of the evening, they didn't play the JCB song (although they did play Clear as their second song - yay), and they paid too much attention to a very drunk lairy girl who kept interrupting the show. However, letting her sing Stand By Me to everyone seemed to mollify her a bit, and gave us all a laugh at the same time. But a laugh in a nice way.
When we saw Scouting for Girls last weekend I was impressed by the support on show, and this was obviously a good week for support slots. The guy warming up for Nizlopi was Joe Driscoll, a New Yorker who does live cut ups, meaning he does his own beatbox, then his own guitar, then his own backing vocals and then puts them all on a loop and sings over them. And he does it all in front of you. His songs were cracking too and I will definitely keep an eye out for a chance to see him again.
I liked him so much I even bought his CD!
Showing posts with label Nizlopi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nizlopi. Show all posts
Friday, April 11, 2008
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Day out in Worcester
It seems a perilous place, albeit with free parking if you're willing to explore side streets. I got accosted by a slightly intense emotional mugger (you know, pours out his woeful life story, then asks you for cash) who seemed to have stalked us from when we left the SPCK Bookshop.
We had pizzas at a nice Italian restaurant, which a local mouse seemed to like too, because he kept popping up from among the cracks in the floorboards.
Then, much later, outside McDonalds, we witnessed the unfortunate sight of a 'well built' young lady adjusting her short shorts and standing on the street corner in just her thong in the process. Shudder.
The reason we were in Worcester was to see Nizlopi play at the Marr's Bar, a venue described as 'intimate' in the pre-show publicity. That must be 'intimate' as in 'tiny and rammed to the rafters'. It was the third time we've seen the band live, following Greenbelt and the excellent show last year at The Point in Cardiff Bay.
With hit-and-miss support from some random competition winners, it was a great night out. As before, they chose to play a couple of songs out in the audience, which, with the lights down, made the night very special. As an added bonus this time they played 'Clear' with the awesome rhyming couplet of 'shaolin' and 'towel in' (you've got to hear it to get it), which they'd promised us last time but didn't sing.
With the curfew curtailing the gig at midnight, they weren't allowed to do an encore (boooo! to midlands licensing laws!). After braving the aforementioned horrors to get drinks at the home of the golden arches, we drove off into the night, arriving home in the wee small hours, tired but happy.
We had pizzas at a nice Italian restaurant, which a local mouse seemed to like too, because he kept popping up from among the cracks in the floorboards.
Then, much later, outside McDonalds, we witnessed the unfortunate sight of a 'well built' young lady adjusting her short shorts and standing on the street corner in just her thong in the process. Shudder.
The reason we were in Worcester was to see Nizlopi play at the Marr's Bar, a venue described as 'intimate' in the pre-show publicity. That must be 'intimate' as in 'tiny and rammed to the rafters'. It was the third time we've seen the band live, following Greenbelt and the excellent show last year at The Point in Cardiff Bay.
With hit-and-miss support from some random competition winners, it was a great night out. As before, they chose to play a couple of songs out in the audience, which, with the lights down, made the night very special. As an added bonus this time they played 'Clear' with the awesome rhyming couplet of 'shaolin' and 'towel in' (you've got to hear it to get it), which they'd promised us last time but didn't sing.
With the curfew curtailing the gig at midnight, they weren't allowed to do an encore (boooo! to midlands licensing laws!). After braving the aforementioned horrors to get drinks at the home of the golden arches, we drove off into the night, arriving home in the wee small hours, tired but happy.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Nizlopi @ Greenbelt
Wednesday, September 20, 2006
Nizlopi at The Point
It’s been a tough time for us recently with a family bereavement last week. We’d spent several weeks waiting in the hospital for the inevitable to finally happen, so when it did there was the sense of relief that the pain was over; but also some sadness as reality sank in.
I took a couple of days off work at the start of this week, just to get some rest and spend some non-hospital time with my better half. We had a day out down in Torquay on Monday, followed by a quiet day on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday night we went to see Nizlopi play at The Point in Cardiff.
Most people, it seems, haven’t heard of them, but they did that song about riding round in a JCB that was a pretty big hit last Christmas (and had a lovely video). We saw them at Greenbelt at the end of August and thought they were great, but last night they were so much better.
Despite living just round the corner from The Point, I’d never been to this venue before and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s in a converted church, with intact stained glass, which meant it had a lovely high ceiling, but was dark and gothic enough to feel like a proper venue. What the people who built the church would have made of some of the live acts they have there is of course a matter of conjecture (I’m betting they wouldn’t be thrilled).
Unique and intriguing
Nizlopi are apparently Britain’s only folk hip-hop duo, comprising Luke on guitar and vox and JP on double bass and beatbox. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it. And in fact it is captivating. Not only do they play heartfelt songs, but you can tell they love the music itself. It’s refreshing to see a live act who aren’t full of themselves, but genuinely want to use music to communicate.
They began the show by wandering through the crowd, playing a guitar and singing, which was amusing as it took a while for people to cotton on to who they were. There was one awkward moment when someone almost told them they weren’t pushing through to the front because, you could see them thinking, ‘I’ve been here ages…oh it’s you…’
The band broke with convention a few times – instructing the crowd in group harmonies, coming down off the stage again to stand in the middle of everyone, and play a cover of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. They also introduced a "potential England world cup song", only twigging later why a Cardiff crowd would boo such a notion.
JCB or JVC? Who cares?
The highlight of the show for many people was The JCB Song (have I mentioned that??). During their instrumental odyssey into the crowd someone demanded they sing “the JVC song”, so when they eventually did play it, they introduced it as a song about video recorders. Cue much laughter. In truth, for a band with only one chart hit, it must get wearing knowing that people have only come to hear one song, but they made a decent fist of it, even if Luke did start by playing the wrong notes, much to JP’s amusement.
The gig ended about 2 hours after it began and, with a return to work looming today, we went home, tired and happy, with an autographed copy of their mini-album. Luke, in his hand-written message urged us to ‘Rock from our hearts forever’.
I took a couple of days off work at the start of this week, just to get some rest and spend some non-hospital time with my better half. We had a day out down in Torquay on Monday, followed by a quiet day on Tuesday. Then on Tuesday night we went to see Nizlopi play at The Point in Cardiff.
Most people, it seems, haven’t heard of them, but they did that song about riding round in a JCB that was a pretty big hit last Christmas (and had a lovely video). We saw them at Greenbelt at the end of August and thought they were great, but last night they were so much better.
Despite living just round the corner from The Point, I’d never been to this venue before and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s in a converted church, with intact stained glass, which meant it had a lovely high ceiling, but was dark and gothic enough to feel like a proper venue. What the people who built the church would have made of some of the live acts they have there is of course a matter of conjecture (I’m betting they wouldn’t be thrilled).
Unique and intriguing
Nizlopi are apparently Britain’s only folk hip-hop duo, comprising Luke on guitar and vox and JP on double bass and beatbox. Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it. And in fact it is captivating. Not only do they play heartfelt songs, but you can tell they love the music itself. It’s refreshing to see a live act who aren’t full of themselves, but genuinely want to use music to communicate.
They began the show by wandering through the crowd, playing a guitar and singing, which was amusing as it took a while for people to cotton on to who they were. There was one awkward moment when someone almost told them they weren’t pushing through to the front because, you could see them thinking, ‘I’ve been here ages…oh it’s you…’
The band broke with convention a few times – instructing the crowd in group harmonies, coming down off the stage again to stand in the middle of everyone, and play a cover of Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing. They also introduced a "potential England world cup song", only twigging later why a Cardiff crowd would boo such a notion.
JCB or JVC? Who cares?
The highlight of the show for many people was The JCB Song (have I mentioned that??). During their instrumental odyssey into the crowd someone demanded they sing “the JVC song”, so when they eventually did play it, they introduced it as a song about video recorders. Cue much laughter. In truth, for a band with only one chart hit, it must get wearing knowing that people have only come to hear one song, but they made a decent fist of it, even if Luke did start by playing the wrong notes, much to JP’s amusement.
The gig ended about 2 hours after it began and, with a return to work looming today, we went home, tired and happy, with an autographed copy of their mini-album. Luke, in his hand-written message urged us to ‘Rock from our hearts forever’.
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