– Canvas, Manchester –
Gilla Band
Irish noise masters Gilla Band (fka Girl Band) are back with Most Normal, their new, album of the year contender LP, arriving with a reputation for putting on incendiary live shows. Having just left the brand spanking new Canvas on Oxford Road (very decent, big blank Gorilla sized white box in the depths of yet another new monster development in town), my ears are just about intact (wear earplugs kids!), but the very essence of my being has somehow been altered, maybe even at a DNA level. To use internet parlance, I am shook, but in the best possible way.
I’m worrying about writing this review, that my words won’t do justice to the sheer might, the heft, the power of what Dara Kiely and co have just done. It isn’t music that you merely hear, it’s music that you feel, right through to your very core. And so, here are some vignettes, brief glimpses, shouted lyrics, from what was quite possibly the gig of the year.
‘I SPENT ALL MY MONEY ON SHIT CLOTHES, SHIT CLOTHES, SHIT CLOTHES’
My legs are involuntarily moving, they cannot be stilled
‘I USED TO BE GOOD LOOKING’
How are they doing this, this noise? They’re just a band, it can’t be possible
‘NO ONE LOOKS COOL AROUND A WASP’
Chainsaw guitars, rearranging my circuits
‘PETIT POIS’
A can of Red Stripe is only £4.50, which in today’s economy is a bargain
‘I CAN’T WEAR HATS I JUST GET SLAGGED’
High pitched buzzing, is it an effect or my tinnitus?
‘WHY THEY HIDE THEIR BODIES UNDER MY GARAGE’
The floor and walls are literally shaking, I hope these new build foundations are strong
‘IT’S TOO LATE FOR RIKKI LAKE’
The kids are moshing and it looks like the best thing, but I will leave it to them
‘I LOOK CRAP WITH MY TOP OFF’
It’s hot, the man in a vest with a mullet and tatts looks comfortable
‘NUTELLA’
A moment of quiet, I’d use it for some reflection if I could think straight
‘I WENT TO JC’S, GET MY BOOTCUT JEANS’
The lights are going off, like the p*lice have turned up, all blues and twos
‘I’LL BRAIN YOU’
Searing home truths
BASICALLY I GET INEVITABLE DEPRESSION WHEN I DO NOTHING
Exhausted perma-grin on the 192 home
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