OUGHT / THE JELAS / WALL | LIVE REVIEW
Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Wed 20 Apr
On paper, this show promised to be a doozy. Lauded Dischord-influenced locals WaLL and jerky Bristolian trio The Jelas in support of one of the most critically-acclaimed bands of the moment, Ought from Montreal. Clearly, someone had done their homework with the lineup. Thankfully, the bands realised this and brought their A-game.
WaLL kicked off proceedings whilst the majority of the crowd were still mulling over which craft lager to try first, but the ferocity of their performance soon had them taking up their positions around 10ft from the front of the stage. This worked well for WaLL, whose lead singer/guitarist spent much of the show facing his bandmates from ‘the pit’. The band seemed to lose their way a little when he joined them on stage in fact, but the set was still strong.
Stronger still were The Jelas who played one of the tightest sets you’re likely to see. Their stop-start antics fooled pretty much everyone and it would take a maths genius to work out some of the time signatures and to predict the end of a song in time to clap. Stunning work from Aled on the drums. Stunning: follow that, Ought.
Sadly, The Jelas’ ‘Best Set Of 2016’ crown was relatively short lived once Messrs Darcy, May, Stidworthy and Keen started ploughing through what is already quite the enviable back catalogue. Just two albums and an EP graced the merch table, but they have been so jam-packed full of joyous art-punk ditties that they even managed to omit New Calm Pt II from the set and still kill it.
Tim Darcy’s dry interactions with the crowd were few and far between but as a frontman, you just can’t take your eyes off him. They simply look like a band who are having the best time making the brilliant performances of brilliant songs completely effortless. Beautiful Blue Sky from the latest record and Pill from last year’s Once More With Feeling EP were the definite highlights, with the former’s lyrics being sung in unison by the band and the crowd before punching the air with a passionate “yes!!”. Yes.
words BEN GALLIVAN