T'Pau
Yes, you read that right. Time to blow any musical credibility that I may have ever had... I am here to see T'Pau. You know, the eighties pop-rockers. My inner punk/indie-goth/metal/grunge/alt./post/folk rocker is screaming in anguish but my inner 80s pop-rocker is telling him to shut the chuff up.
But before T'Pau, we have Scarlet., complete with the full stop to avoid confusion with any other band or artist going by that name but without it. Given the sheer number of other bands and artists with similar monikers, I’ve been able to find out pretty much nowt about this lot. What I can tell you is that they’re a female fronted four-piece from Liverpool. There are big hints of All About Eve, both in the vocals and music, although they also bring to mind Pearl Jam, Patti Smith circa Gone Again, the PJ Harvey of Stories From The City...., Slowdive and early Catalonia. It works pretty well, other than a brave but perhaps misguided diversion on the penultimate song into Blur-meets-Riot Grrrl territory.
And now for T'Pau. Lead by two original members in Carol Decker on vox (natch) and Ronnie Rogers on guitar, the seven piece’s hour and ten minute set takes in all the hits from first time around plus a track or two from 2015’s Pleasure & Pain. Keysman Carsten Moss, drummer Dave Hattee and backing vocalist Odette Adams look like they could’ve been in the original line-up, albeit if they hadn't aged a day since. Image wise, lead guitarist James Ashby and bassist Kev Gunes don’t fit in quite so well: the former a refugee from The Mars Volta, the latter being more hipster-indie. That said, it is Ashby that lifts the band with cracking soloing and some tasty e-bow. Of the oldies, Walk On Air and the title tracks from The Promise and smash hit debut album Bridge of Spies sound great. Relative newie Read My Mind is probably the highlight of the set. Bringing the set to a conclusion, Decker announces that the band won’t mess about with the whole encore malarkey but will just finish with one last song. Of course, that is China In Your Hand.
This wasn’t perfect. At the start, whilst Decker seemed genuinely thrilled to be playing to a less than full Waterfront, the rest of the band seemed less than happy to be on stage together. As things went on, smiles started to appear and, by the end of the set, they were a happy bunch. For a band with five LPs and with tickets at thirty quid on the door, 80 minutes seemed a bit on the miserly side. This didn't match some of the - seriously great - gigs I’ve seen this year but it was a decent show, I had some fun and I am glad that my inner 80s pop-rocker won out and persuaded me to go.
