BLOOD RED SHOES + QUEEN KWONG – CHALK, BRIGHTON 14.11.19
Brighton duo Blood Red Shoes, who are Laura Mary-Carter (guitar and vocals) and Steven Ansell (drums and vocals), are certainly moving in the right direction when it comes to gaining fans. I can recall that they performed one of the very last gigs at Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar in Brighton on Tuesday 11th December 2018 and now look at them, playing to a sold out crowd at the newly opened CHALK.
Thankfully they are opening the UK leg of their winter tour on home turf before scooting off to Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, London and Manchester. Last night they were playing live in Borgerhout in Belgium, and prior to that have been thrilling crowds in France, the Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy, Denmark, Sweden and Norway. No wonder Laura said to the crowd tonight that’s it’s been ages since they have played in Brighton, only for Steven to add that it seems like that as they have been doing tons of travelling.
The duo released their hugely acclaimed latest album ‘Get Tragic‘ on Friday 25th January, and it entered the UK Indie Charts at number 3 and the UK Official vinyl charts at 10. It was recorded in Los Angeles with Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs / Arcade Fire / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and it’s likely that it is there where they met tonight’s support act Queen Kwong as she hails from LA.
Blood Red Shoes this evening have morphed into a live quartet with the assistance of Liz on guitar and James on Roland drum pads and Novation synth and their 19 track set gets underway at 8:33pm. Laura and Steven share vocal duties with a majority of tunes being sung by both of them at the same time, clearly there’s a tight bond here.
The lights kick in and let’s hope that there are no epileptics in attendance tonight as they sure would stand a chance of sadly setting someone off. The sound is crisp and loud and a majority of the eager punters around me have some form of ear protection, clearly they knew what to expect!
With most bands, the drummer is stuck at the back, but as Steven is half of Blood Red Shoes, he has positioned his kit right at the front at a slight angle. I noted that he had no less than six microphones positioned around his installation, so no wonder it’s loud. The four entertainers are all clad in black, which in Laura’s case assists the attention drawn to her blond hair. They are clad in their touring gear and they will work together as a tight unit. Then after a trio of tracks, those being ‘Elijah’, ‘God Complex’ and ‘Mexican Dress’, the assistance of Liz and James is no longer required, and Laura and Steven, do what they do best and make even more noise as a duo than they did as a quartet! How’s this possible eh Mr Soundman? The punters were lapping it up, as we were supplied track after track with almost no crowd interaction whatsoever.
After nine duo tracks, Liz and James return and the 4-piece perform five more tracks, with most definitely the standout track of the set, which was ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ which is found on their ‘Box Of Secrets’ album from 2007. They left the stage and looking at the setlist there was no other songs listed. Oh no is that it? Nope! They returned to great applause and saw out the 1 hour and 21 minute set with ‘Bangsar’ and ‘Colours Fade’. It was 9:54pm and it was all over. Rather early really, but at least punters have plenty of opportunities in getting their relevant transport home.
Blood Red Shoes setlist:
‘Elijah’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘God Complex’ (found on 2018 ‘God Complex’ single)
‘Mexican Dress’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘Light It Up’ (found on 2010 ‘Fire Like This’ album)
‘An Animal’ (found on 2014 ‘Blood Red Shoes’ album)
‘Black Distractions’ (found on 2013 ‘Water’ EP)
‘Red River’ (found on 2013 ‘Water’ EP)
‘Je Me Perds’ (found on 2012 ‘In Time To Voices’ album)
‘Cold’ (found on 2012 ‘In Time To Voices’ album)
‘The Perfect Mess’ (found on 2014 ‘Blood Red Shoes’ album)
‘Don’t Ask’ (found on 2010 ‘Fire Like This’ album)
‘This Is Not For You’ (found on 2007 ‘Box Of Secrets’ album)
‘When We Wake’ (found on 2010 ‘Fire Like This’ album)
‘Vertigo’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘Eye To Eye’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘Howl’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ (found on 2007 ‘Box Of Secrets’ album)
(encore)
‘Bangsar’ (found on 2019 ‘Get Tragic’ album)
‘Colours Fade’ (found on 2010 ‘Fire Like This’ album)
Find out more at www.bloodredshoes.co.uk
As mentioned earlier, support this evening came from Queen Kwong, which is the brainchild of Los Angeles based musician Carré Callaway. She is performing 16 dates with Blood Red Shoes in Europe and the UK. She is no stranger to Brighton having performed at the Green Door Store on 19th December 2015 and prior to that played the sadly defunct Sticky Mike’s Frog Bar on 13th May 2015.
Carré has been on an interesting journey with the support from Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame, who she has previously played support for. This is not surprising as her raw set tonight started off with herself on guitar and after a short while was accompanied by her band on guitar, bass and drums. Their sound is seriously rocky and the crowd immediately took to her. There was quite a bit of distorted guitar work tonight and Carré’s movements were at times similar to Ian Curtis of Joy Division and from the same era, she has the same rawness and charisma of a young seductive Patti Smith.
Their six tune 27 minute set was loud and made up of material from her brand new EP titled ‘Oh Well’ which dropped on 6th November, as well as songs from her two albums, ‘Get A Witness’ from 2015 and last year’s ‘Love Me To Death’.
Queen Kwong setlist:
‘Signs’ (found on 2019 ‘Oh Well’ EP)
‘Prehistoric Blues’ (found on 2018 ‘Love Me To Death’ album)
‘Newt’ (found on 2015 ‘Get A Witness’ album)
‘Oh Well’ (found on 2019 ‘Oh Well’ EP)
‘The Happiest Place’ (found on 2018 ‘Love Me To Death’ album)
‘Purrfiction’ (found on 2015 ‘Get A Witness’ album)
Find out more: www.queenkwong.com
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