Concert Reviews

The Actress & Bishop, Birmingham After a long day of giving treatments to clients the synth x-mas event is just what the doctor ordered (although I was too shattered to stay the whole night). The evening was just as exciting as last year albeit it less people attended but those who were there made enough noise and the energy was great. Neil Francis started the evening off with a set that mostly consisted of well sung cover versions of classic synth acts including Yazoo or OMD but also featured his 2016 collaboration track (with DAYSOUND) ‘Deadender’ as well as ‘Connected’ the track the did with Shelter. His voice is simply amazing and he later joined Johnny Normal on stage to perform the song ‘Save me’ that Neil recorded somewhen in 2015 with Johnny.  xxx But let us not skip ahead. ‘The Glass Memorial’ were on next and with my eyes closed I could often here Ultravox vibes running through their slightly darker, more minimal m

‘These are the things that dreams are made of’ is not just a line from an iconic Human League track but this also sums up the vibes of the night. Three amazing acts. Support act ‘Ekkoes’ were on stage quite early and had to battle somewhat difficult acoustics but still managed to bring a highly energetic and fun set to the audience. They performed many tracks from their ‘Elekktricity’ album as well as a fun cover of Raf/Laura Branigan’s 1984 hit: ‘Self control’. Would have loved to hear more of Rosalee O’Connell’s voice which was somewhat drowned out at times but nonetheless it was a great set. It was also very nice to see an excited frontman who said that ‘Mirror Man’ is his favourite tune. Well done, Ekkoes xx Neil Arthur’s Blancmange needed no introduction and his voice was phenomenal and the set was fun and contained new material from Blancmange’s latest album ‘Commute 23’ and of course the hits ‘Living on the ceiling’, ‘Waves’ and ‘Blind Vision’.  Old