Echobelly
In the mid nineties the media siezed on a new music scene that they dubbed Britpop. It became obsessed with largely invented rivalry between two of its largest exponents – Blur and Oasis. A battle of titanic proportion was waged in the tabloids as cheeky Mockneys and swaggering Mancs supposedly fought and scrambled for the coveted number one spot. At the same time, Sonya Madan and Glenn Johansson formed Echobelly, the name chosen to reflect the idea of being hungry for something new. They released their first album, the ironically named Everyone's Got One, (EGO for short). Echobelly were lauded by both Morrissey and Madonna, and two more hit albums followed. Then, the press tired of Britpop, and buried it as quickly as they had invented it.
Tonight I am at Norwich Waterfront, where Echobelly are performing in the Studio, whilst London reggae punks The Skints hold court downstairs.
Sonya Madan beckons the crowd forward, telling us how pleased the band are to be back in Norwich, even though she couldn't find an off-licence open to buy a bottle of whiskey.'That's about right for Norwich!' someone shouts back. Morrisons, anybody?
Bulldog Baby, a non-single track from album number three, Lustra, is an unusual opening gambit, but a great track nonetheless that always reminds me of Massive Attack, and showcases the anthemic writing style of Madan and Johansson – political lyricism combining with a rousing chorus and enormous guitar riffs. My God, how I loved that album.
Another song from Lustra, Iris Art, is sandwiched between three songs from the lesser-known Anarchy and Alchemy album, and one can sense a growing impatient for the big hits. Luckily, they don't come any bigger or better than King of The Kerb, albeit a song that is a protestation against prostitution and homelessness. However, it comes at exactly the right moment and keeps the audience onside.
The biggest cheers of the night come for the inspirational and aspirational Great Things, the song that we naively embraced in the nineties, completely unaware what the next twenty five years would bring. Other singles hits are omitted, though, to make way for less familiar tracks from 2001's People Are Expensive and 2004's Gravity Pulls albums, and we also get Faces In The Mirror, another track from Anarchy and Alchemy.
The encore begins with Giving It All, a song written for Madan and Johansson's acoustic project, Calm of Zero, and is followed by Dark Therapy, a blinder of a finale and the Echobelly song that probably remains most relevant to the world of 2021.
No new material so, as a show, tonight didn't really take us anywhere from the night at Open four years ago, but Echobelly continue to bring back the memories, and remain my personal darlings of the Britpop age.
Support came from The Magic E's, a tight rock trio from Norwich, who gave us a taste of what to expect as they return to headline a Tilting Sky night at the Waterfront Studio on Saturday October 23rd.
