After almost two years since their debut album ‘Box Of Secrets’, Blood Red Shoes return to promote their second album ‘Fire Like This’; this live performance in Birmingham being the first date of the tour and coming only one day after the release of the new album. So a night of unheard songs and quotes of being more mature and wanting to be taken more seriously is in store? Well, no.
Blood Red Shoes, a grunge noise male/female pop duo from Brighton open on track one from album one ‘Doesn’t Matter Much’ and remind everybody why we fell in love with them and what we have been missing. Straight back in to the swing of things and then on to a new one. The band manage to create the right mix of old and new songs on tonight’s set list; almost alternating between old, new, old, new throughout the whole performance.
As a band, they both seem to have improved. Laura-Mary Carter appears more confident with her guitar playing and holds a better stage presence whilst Steven Ansell’s drumming and singing is as tight and ferocious as ever.
‘Light It Up’ the first single taken from ‘Fire Like This’ sounds better live than on recording with it’s cribs-esque verses and a chorus that echoes anything from Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album. ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ and ‘This Is Not For You’ taken from their 2008 debut are played as is early single ‘You Bring Me Down’ and they all sound fresh and vibrant and slot nicely in to the performance, keeping the punters happy. This is reiterated with tonight’s closing track, the band’s signature song ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’.
Stand out new track is ‘Count Me Out’ which hits you immediately with the first strum of the guitar. Simple verses which casually build up with alternating drum beats and a chorus that shudders through you with chants of “Always empty” and “Count me out, I’m not here” reiterating the bands lyrical themes of alienation and boredom. Another is track four of the second album, ‘When We Wake’. It’s a touching affair and is a nice shift from the loud ruckus the duo are usually known to create, to a soft breezy number that delicately builds up to a climatic finale and compliments the song beautifully. The song has Carter repeatedly ask “In the end is this all we can ask for?”; which is certainly something Blood Red Shoes fans will not be asking upon hearing the new album performed live.
Blood Red Shoes, a grunge noise male/female pop duo from Brighton open on track one from album one ‘Doesn’t Matter Much’ and remind everybody why we fell in love with them and what we have been missing. Straight back in to the swing of things and then on to a new one. The band manage to create the right mix of old and new songs on tonight’s set list; almost alternating between old, new, old, new throughout the whole performance.
As a band, they both seem to have improved. Laura-Mary Carter appears more confident with her guitar playing and holds a better stage presence whilst Steven Ansell’s drumming and singing is as tight and ferocious as ever.
‘Light It Up’ the first single taken from ‘Fire Like This’ sounds better live than on recording with it’s cribs-esque verses and a chorus that echoes anything from Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ album. ‘I Wish I Was Someone Better’ and ‘This Is Not For You’ taken from their 2008 debut are played as is early single ‘You Bring Me Down’ and they all sound fresh and vibrant and slot nicely in to the performance, keeping the punters happy. This is reiterated with tonight’s closing track, the band’s signature song ‘It’s Getting Boring By The Sea’.
Stand out new track is ‘Count Me Out’ which hits you immediately with the first strum of the guitar. Simple verses which casually build up with alternating drum beats and a chorus that shudders through you with chants of “Always empty” and “Count me out, I’m not here” reiterating the bands lyrical themes of alienation and boredom. Another is track four of the second album, ‘When We Wake’. It’s a touching affair and is a nice shift from the loud ruckus the duo are usually known to create, to a soft breezy number that delicately builds up to a climatic finale and compliments the song beautifully. The song has Carter repeatedly ask “In the end is this all we can ask for?”; which is certainly something Blood Red Shoes fans will not be asking upon hearing the new album performed live.
