At the risk of sounding really unfashionable, I just don’t think the RSAG thing works. If I wanted to listen to a tape, I’d have stayed at home. And it just ain’t worth the journey to watch Jeremy Hickey drum along to pre-recorded tracks. The songs are good and the drumming is unquestionably excellent. But without the frisson of musicians interacting with each other, the overall performance is underwhelming and a little sterile. The audience’s attention begins to wander after a song or two; by the end of the set, most people are holding full-blown conversations.
New Young Pony Club front-woman Tahita Bulmer, on the other hand, has the audience riveted, like spectators at a tennis match looking left and right and left again as she races over and back across the stage.
A cover of ‘Dress’ by PJ Harvey boils off all the feminism and self-loathing, leaving a residue of overly-sweet electro-pop. Bulmer is more comfortable with her own brand of pretty, dancey electro-clash. Indeed, once the headliners hit their stride half-way through with ‘Ice Cream’, from there it’s an easy sprint to the first-class finish, ‘The Bomb’.
Over on the littler stage, Tiny Magnetic Pets put on an enigmatic show. For example, a badly thought-out Eurythmics cover is way out of singer Paula Gilmer’s range. She’s good but she’s not Annie Lennox. Their darker, more synth-heavy material, however, is their strongest suit, and arguably eclipses current single ‘Girl in a White Dress’. That’s the direction they should be pursuing from here on.