Miscellaneous - Boardwalk, Sheffield, 26/1/2004

  by Helen Tipping

published: 10 / 2 / 2005

intro

At an unfortunately sparsely attended gig at Sheffield's Boardwalk, Helen Tipping enjoys lively sets from psychedelic Norwegian act Freeshine and Brighton-based punks My Deaf Audio

The stage is occupied by a drumkit and microphone stands and lots of space, into which the drummer, bassist and guitarists of Freeshine bounce and proceed to play a very long intro.  Part way through the singer, Tarjei, arrives. He's small with lots of hair and the two girls in front of me can't take their eyes off him.  "We're Freeshine, we're from Norway and we play psychedelic rock", he announces at the end of the first track.  Well there's nothing like putting yourself in a box. It saves the reviewer the hard job of figuring out what you are!  I didn't think all the tracks fitted the psychedelic rock category, as there was a modernness about some of them.  The band played well, Tarjei has the face to attract a large female following and they were quite enjoyable if not quite the sort of thing I would normally go to see. It's a shame that Sheffield has done its best not to turn up for this gig. You would have thought that people might have heard of My Deaf Audio, but Wednesday night in Sheffield is quiet.  The teenagers who had turned up to see their mates band play the first support slot are drifting away, and by the time My Deaf Audio take the stage there are about 10 people standing around watching, including one of the guitarists from Freeshine. My Deaf Audio are lively . Singer Andy Reed is very tall and leaps around the stage with enormous energy, occasionally kicking the cymbal nearest him.  I'd been sent 'Are the New Black', their new EP by way of an introduction to them.  It was good, but didn’t really grab my attention,. They were, however, a lot more exciting than on CD and despite the small turnout put their all into the set.  I couldn't help but think though during the chorus of 'Get Out, Right Now' when Andy sings "We're gonna burn down this town" that the music fans and gig goers of Sheffield could really do with a firework up their collective arses to get them out of their living rooms and bedsits and into the Boardwalk.  My Deaf Audio are worth going to see,. They are entertaining, energetic and are quite good at the funny asides between tracks that make you feel like they are really enjoying themselves.  Go see them if you have the chance.