Sorry it's taken so long to post, but it's still worth a read, if I do say so myself!!
With it’s small and shabby charm, and the lines of posters above the bars illustrating the likes of who have played there (such as The Killers and Radiohead), you can always expect The Fleece in Bristol to put on great gigs, and the latest band to play on the tiny stage and live up to that rep is Brighton based band Tall Ships.
Before Tall Ships play their set, hoards of hipster-types fill the venue to sample the supports. First up is Oliver Wilde, who blend guitars and synths to create a mix of chilled out, relaxing music, and slightly more lively rocktronica. Only slightly more lively though... while the band were good at what they did, I had to admit, I felt myself getting slightly bored with their set filled with slow, melancholy songs. I was craving something more lively. I got that wish with next support Emperor Yes, who were joining the Tall Ships boys on their tour. Emperor Yes ditch the guitars in favour of synths and drums for an exciting new sound. While they definitely livened the place up, there was something about the band I wasn’t sure of. Perhaps it was the distortion on one of the players vocals or the fact I kept comparing their sound to something like a more alternative version of Owl City (who I’m really not fond of). Despite their overly electro sound not being for me, they did get the crowd pretty hyped for Tall Ships.
Tall Ships opened their set with 'T=0', and instantly the crowd went wild. Previously I didn’t think Tall Ships were much of a head banging band, but after seeing the die hard fans go crazy to 'T=0', I swiftly changed my mind. Tall Ships instantly electrified the stage, with an incredible stage presence. They played plenty of favourites from their album Everything Touching, as well as a few older tunes. They also played 'Books' live for the first time, which, being my favourite song on Everything Touching, made me extremely happy. Tall Ships are a band that prioritise the use of instrumentals over vocals to create a really engaging, math rock-esque sound which delivers live, however, on some songs the heavy use of instruments could drown out the vocals, which is a shame because the lead singer has an incredible voice. Having said that, other songs such as Ode to Ancestors were more vocal heavy on the live set, which balanced this out.
All of the band demonstrated incredible talent throughout and gave all that they had. By the end the bassist and the drummer looked like they were about to pass out. When they walked off the stage after 45 minutes, they swiftly came back for an encore, with lead singer Ric commenting ‘now I feel like we’re a proper band’. While the whole set was brilliant, the encore made it for me. After doing a little rendition of Angels by Robbie Williams, Ric started softly singing 'Vessels', before the rest of the band hopped back on stage to join him. The band ensured the whole crowd was clapping and singing along. Tall Ships finished on old favourite 'Hit The Floor', adding a slightly heavier sound to the mix. The bassist and keyboard player then got some drumsticks which seemed to magically appear and began playing the drums with the drummer. It’s fair to say that Tall Ships finished their set at The Fleece with a bang, having successfully delivered a set that was energetic, exciting and full of life.
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