LIME GARDEN + BLOOD WIZARD + VANITY FAIRY – PATTERNS, BRIGHTON 16.11.22
On Wednesday night a sold-out Patterns full of Lime Garden fans, faced the terrible weather in order to see the local legends perform a hometown show to end their first ever headline UK tour.
At the early set time of 7:20pm, opening act Vanity Fairy took to the stage. Self-described as a “A failed actor, writer, administrator, waitress, seamstress, builder, and decorator” with her sights now set on “international pop stardom.”, the crowd seemed shocked as she ran onto the stage dressed as some kind of Egyptian goddess.
I was an instant fan as her Kate Bush style vocals drew the crowd to the front. With a stage presence that would make Freddie Mercury nervous, highlights of the set included tracks from the 2021 EP ‘Love From Above’ with single ‘He Can Be Your Lady’ proving to be a clear crowd favourite. Vanity explained to the crowd how her mission was to warm us up for the arrival of Lime Garden. This was very successfully achieved as she spent more time in with the crowd than on the stage. After a short half an hour, the set ended with the final track ‘Top Of The Pops’.
Before I even had a chance to grab a pint, Brighton based duo Blood Wizard had already made their way onto the stage and were ready to play, resulting in the quickest band change over in Patterns history.
Joined on stage tonight by an additional guitarist, bassist and drummer to complete their guitar keys and two vocal set up, the band wasted no time with their first track ‘The Slip’.
Blood Wizard describe their sound as “wonky folk for wonky folks”, filling the packed-out room with dark and atmospheric melodic riffs, vocals and bass lines. The two vocals blended seamlessly together as they moved on to my personal highlight of the set ‘Apples And Oranges’.
The set continued with their most popular track on Spotify ‘Breaking Even’, the relaxing guitar line paired with the beautiful story telling lyrics made it clear why this song was so popular with the Brighton crowd. Ending the 8-song set with final tracks ‘Devil’ and ‘Halo’, the crowd was well and truly warmed up ready for the main event.
As Blood Wizard made their way off stage, there was an immediate surge to the front as the crowd could not contain their excitement for the return of the local heroes Lime Garden.
They met whilst studying in Brighton and were originally called just LIME. The band members are Chloe Howard (vocals/guitar), Leila Deeley (guitar), Tippi Morgan (bass) and Annabel Whittle (drums). They are as fashionable as they are musically talented, their creative style and cool look are always something to look forward to.
After selling out The Prince Albert and The Hope & Ruin, it was no surprise this evening was set out to be another success with local promoter Love Thy Neighbour who were putting on the night.
Lime Garden opened with brand new single ‘Bitter’ and seemed almost surprised that the crowd could scream every word back to them already. The set continued with ‘Fever’ before moving on to unreleased track ‘I Know’. The post punk energy matched with funky guitar lines which follows the band’s tried and tested formula to create an absolute banger every time.
Highlights of the set included fan favourites ‘Marbles’ and ‘Sick And Tired’, before treating us to even more brand-new material with new track ‘Love Song’. Ending their hour long set with their most popular song ‘Clockwork’. Lime Garden made it clear that they are a band everyone needs to see while you still have the chance, as they continue to sell out even bigger venues.
