British Sea Power

I first saw British Sea Power supporting Pulp at Thetford Forest 14 or so years ago. Being absolutely honest, I hated the first two songs BSP played that night. They soon won me over however and I loved the rest of their set. Then came the debut album, The Decline of… and, again, I hated the first two songs but loved everything else on there. So started a one-sided love affair with the band and I am thoroughly looking forward to tonight.

First up are Mush. This Leeds-based two guitar-bass-drums-vox quartet offer an intriguing mix of post-punk, indie and alt.rock with a smidge of funk. I am picking-up New York-era Lou Reed, Bowie circa the Berlin trilogy, early Talking Heads and Iggy around the time of Night Clubbing. The guitars also offer a touch of Television and Sonic Youth skronk. My companion for tonight sums it all up rather more succinctly as Pavement fronted by a less grumpy Mark E Smith. Musically, I am impressed by what Mush doing. Visually, things are less convincing, with a lack of showmanship or stage presence. But that is a minor gripe, the band get a warm response from a partisan audience and, with a few more shows and an injection of confidence, Mush will be well worth seeing.

And now for British Sea Power. Starting with the glorious Bad Bohemian, everything is in place musically. Yan, Hamilton, Noble, Abi, Wood and Phil sound as great as ever. The foliage and birds of prey festooned stage set is just as expected. But the band seem, I dunno, a little tired. Running through Atom, St Jerome and Larsen C, things are taking a while to get going. Then comes Canvey Island and normal BSP service is resumed.

BSP are amongst the very best at the indie-meets-rock thang, with a heavy dose of pop sensibility. Virtually every song in their back-catalogue is great or better than great. The lyrics are clever, thought-provoking and, on occasion, amusing without ever being novelty-comedy. Once they get going, there is an energy that is enervating and, dare I say, life affirming. Mid-set, Remember Me sparks a mosh pit that keeps going through the likes of Lights Out For Darker Skies, No Lucifer and the ever-wonderful Waving Flags before finishing - somewhat bravely - with instrumental Great Skua.

Of course there is an encore. The Waterfront won’t let BSP leave just yet and we get Machineries of Joy,
Spirit of St Louis and a full-on Stooges style take on Iggy’s Funtime complete with Yan crowd-surfing.

As I’ve said, BSP are amongst the very best at what they do. I cannot understand why they are not massive, global superstars. I mean, where else can you find a polar bear dancing with a grizzly bear in the audience? Where else can you see a weird sloth-man-haystack dancing with the band on stage or have a life-size plastic owl passed among the audience? Ah well, whilst it might not be great for their bank balances - although I can’t see that fame and money have ever been the driving force for BSP - I’d rather see them in a sweaty Waterfront than in an arena. All in all, another cracking night from unsung heroes of the alternative scene and I walk out beaming from ear to ear.