Millennium Music Hall, Cardiff
Sun 27 Feb
words: GARETH LUDKIN photos: SIMON AYRE
★★★★
After a three year hiatus following 2007’s Proof Of Youth, The Go! Team’s latest album, Rolling Blackouts, signals a welcome return to the stage for Ian Parton, Ninja and the rest of team. But with such a long break from the live stage and the fairly mediocre success of their second album, I was intrigued to see whether The Go! Team have managed to retain their effervescent live performance and sublime clash of styles, vocals and instruments.
I was hoping to see a packed crowd buzzing with anticipation at the Millennium Music Hall on this, the last date of The Go! Team’s UK tour; however, with the relatively muted release of Rolling Blackouts and the hype surrounding the band having dissipated hugely since their brilliant 2003 debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, I was disappointed, but not unsurprised, to see a fairly small and subdued crowd.
Matters weren’t helped by the support band, Banjo Or Freakout, who quickly proved a glaring mistake as the warm-up act. Failing to capture the audience’s imagination, the band distilled any energy or expectation in the room. With such a charismatic and energetic headline act, it would have been nice to see a band willing to ramp up the energy, creating an atmosphere for The Go! Team to tap into. Unfortunately, Banjo Or Freakout’s mundane and melodramatic style left the audience cold and mildly depressed – hardly the atmosphere you’d want to create ahead of a band with such a lively pedigree as The Go! Team.
Despite this, The Go! Team burst onto stage with typical energetic verve; the enigmatic Ninja immediately taking charge with her unique vocal talents. After a few tracks from Rolling Blackouts it was clear to see that The Go! Team are far from losing their edge. Punchy, distorted, loud and fun, their energy was infectious and although it took a while to get the crowd going, by the time the band launched into tracks such as Ladyflash, The Power Is On and Flashlight Fight, the crowd were bouncing.
This is the third time I’ve seen The Go! Team and on every occasion they have delivered an exciting show full of dance, lights, energy and passion. The band are always committed to the performance, whipping up an unruly sense of excitement. Ninja leads as the chief architect of the exciting stage presence with an abundance of dance moves and plenty of pep and vigour. There are few lead singers who can match her energy and sense of fun on stage.
The Go! Team’s latest single, Buy Nothing Day, proved the quality of their latest album and subsequent tracks off the new album went down well with the crowd. It’s clear that The Go! Team haven’t won many new fans with the release of their latest album and it’s a huge shame not to see The Go! Team embraced in the way they once were. But, as good as ever, The Go! Team have delivered another unique album and another live performance worthy of greater accolades. Unfortunately the Millennium Music Hall failed to do The Go! Team’s live performance justice and it also would have been nice to see the band’s customary light show, complete with videos, graphics and all the whizz-bangs we’ve become accustomed to. But none-the-less, it was a great performance and fingers crossed they don’t leave it another three years to tour the UK again.
Check out The Go! Team’s promo documentary for Rolling Blackouts here