Guillemots at King's College (29/03/06)

It's not often that a band can be irritating enough to really make me want to shout at them to fuck off by the end of a support set, but Misty's Big Adventure manage it.



They actually start off reasonably promisingly. Their laid back ska-tinged indie sounds a bit of a limited approximation of Architecture In Helsinki's but on a couple of throwaway songs like The Story Of Love it's quite pleasant. And they have a dancing man in a suit covered in gloves to watch! Unfortunately, while Architecture In Helsinki are powered by energy and enthusiasm, Misty's Big Adventure have instead a hateful smugness.
'All things bright and beautiful, all creatures great and small, all things weird and wonderful, George Bush will kill them all' intones their singer gravely, as if making some shocking and dangerous statement that no-one else would dare to. You mean that George Bush is Bad? WOAH!!
Their humourless set then ends with not one but two songs which consist solely of grumpy moans, first at people who (GASP!) go to clubs (apparently they only care about their hair!!) and then at bands like Franz Ferdinand who dare to (OH NO!) sell some records and make money, and who, of course, all sound exactly the same and have no real talent to them at all and... yeah, if I wanted to hear a generic Drowned in Sound forum post I'd go and read one aloud myself, thanks. Worst of all, there isn't even any real venom present, just an air of "Look how much better we are than those awful people! And you wonderful alternative people who like us are therefore morally superior too". Blech.



Guillemots are almost the total opposite - playing music of amazing scope and invention but with not a hint of believing their own greatness or trying to exclude anyone. Although Fyfe does only apologise for them being crap three or four times this time. During set-ups between songs he invents jazz numbers based on words shouted by the crowd and sung in a startling Tom Waits impression and covers Fine Young Cannibals. (His combination of infectious enthusiasm and willingness to try anything with constant self-effacement does rather remind of Chris Martin).
If you're reading this blog you're probably fed fed up with talk of Guillemots already so I won't go on too much more, but playing a constantly involving set of over 90 minutes after just a handful of singles is especially impressive. 15-minute long closer Sau Paolo is just plain fantastic, too.