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Art Brut, Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

 

You wait years to see a band and then manage it twice in two months ...

Having seen Art Brut in January at Rockaway Beach the thought crossed my mind that, despite having wanted to see them for the past 15 years or so, I might want to knock back my review slot for tonight's show, given the rather long-winded elements of the set that night. Countering that though was the fact that Sneaky Pete's is one of Edinburgh's few remaining intimate gig venues so the overall experience was bound to be of a different tenor than that which the large hall in Bognor Regis afforded.

Support tonight comes from Glasgow's Slime City & we managed to catch three of their energetic and humorously delivered tunes. They make good use of sampled speech between the tracks & purvey an infectious punk sound (the Toy Dolls come to mind). Audience engagement was plentiful & you certainly have to like a band that rails against the safety of UK music television when personified by Jools 'Musical Parasite' Holland. I'm not though too sure about the working class credentials assigned to Top Of The Pops but we can agree to differ on that score.

Things were a tad behind schedule tonight due to Art Brut suffering a van breakdown (shows they're properly doing it for this largely sold out tour though - self-propelled via Transit van) so there was little messing about between Slime City vacating the stage & the headliners taking to it, with Eddie Argos simply joining the crowd from his spot at the bar to then jump into place as the Guns 'N' Roses joke intro was gone through.  

I'll admit now that hearing that & with the first two songs being the same as at Butlin's (complete with blether about Eddie's brother etc.) I was initially of a mind that things might be a bit of a drag, not being big on watching repeats, but as the show progressed there was enough variety & diverting audience interaction to cancel out such concerns. Two pissed-up Italian blokes were especially unique, despite it looking at one point as if one of them was about to kick off.

'Modern Art' got a run out later in the set, despite being described as a song no longer played, & occasioned a waffle about a supposed trip to the Van Gogh museum. Argos wandered amongst the crowd a couple of times, even getting the bulk of it to crouch down with him for a mass jump back up near the end of the night, the Sneaky Pete's stage height causing none of the issues witnessed in January.  

If you've had the sense to get a ticket for any of the remaining shows on the tour then you've made the right decision. If not then you'll likely be able to see the band at one or more festivals in the coming months as they seem to be popping up on a lot of bills. Which is only right & proper.

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