Trampolene
Check out what else is happening in Norwich during Independent Venue Week. And support live music in your city.
Yesterday saw the start of Independent Venue Week, an annual event supported by Arts Council England and BBC Radio 6 that began twelve years ago, and runs this year until Sunday February 1st. Norwich is fortunate in having a good network of live music venues, and enthusiastic and supportive audiences. Venues like The Waterfront, Norwich Arts Centre, Voodoo Daddy's and The Holloway are hosting special events this week, as well as flying the flag for live music all year round. Audiences are their lifeblood. Without them, as many venues have found to their cost, the live music scene cannot survive to nurture new talent, or continue to provide a performance platform for established artists.
Monday night at The Waterfront Studio was always going to be tricky, going head to head with Norwich City v Coventry City, just across the river, and with all the associated problems of finding somewhere nearby to park.
Those who did make it were rewarded with a triple bill of live music that kicked off with Ipswich singer songwriter Connor Adams, performing with a three piece band, and belting out a selection of songs that included early hit Better Days, and brand new single Freaking Out. Combining the passion and the power of Springsteen, with the melodic sensitivities of the Mumfords, there wasn't a bad song in Adams’ short but enjoyable set.
Bayou are a Norwich band led by singer Jack, and featuring Dan on bass, Jake on drums, and Will on guitar and keys. If they look slightly familiar, you may have seen a number of them performing with Norwich's Amelia Stephanides, as Amelia and The Lovefools. Bayou also played at last year's Wild Fields, and have a number of upcoming gigs in the pipeline. There is definitely an appetite for their brand of riff-based, guitar-led, songs, and they have several upcoming gigs around the city. Check them out. Their songs are filled with brightness and energy, in a very laid-back Norwich kind of way. Like them a lot.
Headliners Trampolene hail from Swansea, and even though they formed in 2013 this is their first visit to Norwich. But, as lead singer and guitarist Jack Jones explained, there are not many cities that are geographically separated by a larger West-East divide. As well as tracks from all four of their albums, there is spoken-word poetry as well, with Jones' lilting delivery evoking the delivery and prosaic style of Swansea's other great literary hero, Dylan Thomas. They seem genuinely pleased to find that Norwich City managed to bag all three points from the evening, and appeared to thoroughly enjoy themselves, playing to what they themselves called, 'one of the most surreal audiences' of the tour. I bloody loved their up-for-it approach to the evening – the venue was far from sold out, but those that were there bonded with Trampolene in a way that only a live gig can deliver.
Now go and check out what else is happening in Norwich during Independent Venue Week. And support live music in your city.
