THE LOVELY EGGS + MATT THICK RICHARD + AK/DK – CONCORDE 2, BRIGHTON 3.8.21
Lancaster’s The Lovely Eggs, who formed in 2006, do not give up. Ever. The proudly independent Northern psychedelic punk rock duo have now, since the beginning of the pandemic, rescheduled the tour originally intended to promote the release in April 2020 of their ‘I Am Moron’ album, a staggering seven times.
“It’s part of the DIY culture,” exclaims singer/guitarist Holly Ross. “You just don’t give up. So as soon as we found out that re-opening had been pushed back, we set about heaving all our tour dates back into late July/August. We didn’t want to wait till next year. And within 24 hours we’d re-booked our UK tour for the seventh time! We are all just ready for the party now. Everyone has been looking forward to these shows for over a year and we can’t wait to bring it to em!”
These shows, including tonight’s appearance at the Concorde 2 in Brighton, are a long-awaited celebration of the critical and chart-topping success of their ‘I Am Moron’ long-player, which was declared “Album of the Day” by BBC 6 Music and received critical acclaim. The band’s latest release is a collaboration with none other than Iggy Pop for the latest single ‘I, Moron’ via their own label, Egg Records.
“Being in The Lovely Eggs we’re kind of used to surreal experiences but collaborating with Iggy Pop takes the biscuit,” exclaims Holly. “It’s actually unbelievable. For him just to say nothing but “moron” over and over again fitted in with the sentiment of the song perfectly. He just GOT it. We are all morons. In a world of moronic things. In a world of moronic ideas. You are moron. I am Moron. We are Moron.”
In a further homage to Iggy, the B-side features The Lovely Eggs own take on ‘Dum Dum Boys’ from Iggy’s defining 1977 album ‘The Idiot’.
“For the B side it made real sense to us to cover one of Iggy’s songs off “The Idiot”, says drummer David Blackwell. “There seemed to be a real synchronicity to it. I had this album on cassette, and it was one of the first albums that I got really into. ‘Dum Dum Boys’ struck a chord with us, kind of missing the old days and the old gang we used to hang out with.”
And so to this evening………
I had not actually caught these guys live before when they played Brighton, but have seen them climb venue size on each visit, and tonight it was the turn of Concorde 2 and 600 fans. Good to see that with the passing of time, and a Pandemic, they’re selling out the main venues like nobody’s business.
The duo took to the stage (which they filmed, watch it HERE) took a pre gig crowd photo of us punters on her phone.
The Eggs burst from the side stage with a frenzy from the get go with a melter, ‘Stem Carnation’, which is found on the 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album. The two are clearly definitely on form! This was confirmed by the fans’ roar as within a couple of minutes we had ‘This Decision’, also culled from the same platter.
We were treated to ‘Witchcraft’, an absolutely blistering live performance of the song. If that one didn’t get your pulses racing, well there is no hope! Very short and very sweet.
The stage seemed big with just the two of them making up The Lovely Eggs, but the sound was massive. The lighting seemed to have been set on the minimalistic side of things and plenty of smoke and haze.
You can definitely feel it, there is absolutely an energy that you can feel in the room tonight. The crowd lapped it up and it seemed to fuel the band. The guys stopped momentarily to open a beer or a cider before continuing. And from time to time they would chat away to us. A great mix of information and banter. Their DIY ethos and their no nonsense attitude make The Lovely Eggs quite unique. With various releases around the world, the duo have played hundreds of gigs around the UK, USA and Europe.
The set fired along at breakneck speed. ‘I Wanna’ and with the psych-punk ‘Magic Onion’. These guys were generating a powerful raw sound, you have to check to see if indeed there are only two of them. What we had fired into us was a racked up mix of seriously heavy psych, pop, punk and quirkiness. Judging by the crowd and their reactions they have clearly become known for delivering a furious set, and watching the audience it’s clear to anyone that they provide a joyous live set. Their latest single ‘I Moron’, released in July 2021 was up next, Iggy Pop supplied vox inserts on that release.
Other tunes included in the set were the guitar chugging ‘Wiggy Giggy’, ‘Insect Repellent’, ‘I Like Birds’ and ‘Digital Hair’. The crowd had opened up with a small mosh pit, all very well behaved and not too intrusive. It was great to see such a wide range in ages in the audience tonight. Safe to say, and state the obvious, everyone was enjoying the lockdown release with The Lovely Eggs. No introduction needed for the band anthem, the melodic opening chords and searing melodic vocals of ‘F*ck It’ from Holly – oh yeah. The song builds and the crowd is bouncing, drinks and dancing bodies are everywhere now! Arms up high and Brighton voices shouting “f*ck it’. Scarves purchased from the merch desk held aloft!
There are no half measures here tonight as the set headed to a close, both Holly and David smiling as they snapped open another drink. ‘Dickhead’, ‘Don’t Look At Me’ and ending with ‘24 Eyes’.
The sound generated threatened to bring down the building. Tonight was a chance for gig goers to get out and celebrate the bands achievements and music. The Lovely Eggs came to Brighton for a party – and they delivered one! Well played.
The Lovely Eggs setlist:
‘Long Stem Carnations’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘This Decision’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘You Can Go Now’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘Witchcraft’ (found on 2018 ‘This Is Eggland’ album)
‘I Wanna’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘Magic Onion’ (found on 2015 ‘This Is Our Nowhere’ album)
‘I, Moron’ (found on 2021 ‘I, Moron’ single)
‘Wiggy Giggy’ (found on 2018 ‘This Is Eggland’ album)
‘F*ck It’ (found on 2011 ‘Cob Dominoes’ album)
‘Still Second Rate’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘Insect Repellent’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘I Like Birds (But I Like Other Animals Too)’ (found on 2009 ‘If You Were Fruit’ album)
‘The Digital Hair’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
‘Dickhead’ (found on 2018 ‘This Is Eggland’ album)
‘Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It)’ (found on 2011 ‘Cob Dominoes’ album)
‘24 Eyes’ (found on 2020 ‘I Am Moron’ album)
Find The Lovely Eggs online at:
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Support this evening came from AK/DK, who are Ed (drums/synths) and Gee (drums/synths).
I hadn’t heard of these guys before but had been advised not to miss them! These two delivered a set of 30 minutes. It was loud and adrenaline fuelled. So many keyboards and components glowing in the dark, and boy when the two drum kits kicked off you could feel it!
I seriously enjoyed what these guys did, and I guess they were part of the reason why Concorde 2 was so busy early doors. AK/DK, Brighton’s double drum and synth duo Ed and Gee lifted the C2 roof with a fast paced and exciting set.
These guys didn’t mess about, they casually walked onto the stage and delivered what can be described as a sonic tour-de-force. With tracks like ‘Morphology’ and ‘Shared Particles’ – what’s not to like! It was thirty minutes of energy-packed-noise, chanting, and pure percussive joy, leaving you slightly breathless as your body attempts to keep up, and yes, these guys leave you wanting more. Damn we enjoyed their set! I want more!
Grab your AK/DK merch and music on their Bandcamp page.
Catch AK/DK live in Brighton at CHALK on Friday 15th October 2021. Purchase your tickets HERE.
AK/DK setlist:
‘Kosmiche #1’ (found on 2020 ‘Shared Particles’ album)
‘Feeds’ (found on 2020 ‘Shared Particles’ album)
‘Battersea’ (found on 2013 ‘Dispatch #3’ cassette mini-album)
‘Shared Particles’ (found on 2020 ‘Shared Particles’ album)
‘Morphology’ (found on 2017 ‘Patterns/Harmonics’ album)
Find AK/DK on the net:
Twitter / Soundcloud / Spotify / Instagram / YouTube / Facebook
As I understand, The Lovely Eggs like to have a Poet on tour with them. Our ears needed a break after the battering from AK/DK! Out strolled Matt Thick Richard.What a delight he was!
“they told me to leave my cynical attitude at the door, and somebody stole it.“
Thick Richard (aka Clever Dick) has presented BBC Radio 6 Music’s ‘Beat of the Day’, performed on BBC Radio 4, and gigged with Kae Tempest, John Hegley, Arthur Smith, The Fall, Jerry Sadowitz and (sort of) Dr John Cooper Clarke. He co-hosted spoken word franchise Bang Said the Gun’s Manchester events during its run at The Dancehouse Theatre and his recent one-man show, ‘Swear School’ (a crash course in everything you wanted to know about bad language – with puppets), toured nationally.
This lonely figure strolled out onto the stage to a warm Brighton Welcome. Thick Richard warned us it was going to be loud, fast, and full of swear words. Yep he did just that as he relayed some of his poetic work. It was fast and satirical with life observations and political comment. Brilliant. At times eye wateringly hilarious. I was full of admiration for what he did and to remember all those words and to fire them out at speed! He did pull out a set list. The ink was red, he explained, as was the lighting – so he couldn’t f’ing read it!
Bravo Matt Thick Richard. It was a real thrill to talk to you after your set and hear how blown away you were with the Brighton crowd. I hope we get a chance to see you perform again soon. He has some paperbacks of his work available (recommended) and you can keep up to date with Thick Richard on Facebook – HERE.
