BriTiSh SeA PoWeR LIVE @ Rescue Rooms Nottingham 10/04/13

I have seen British Sea Power on a couple of occasions before but always at festivals. There is something uniquely lovable about their eccentricities, the stage is usually decked out in branches and random paraphernalia, tonight is no exception! An amazing backdrop of lights and projected films give a theatrical experience, there are also a pair of stag's antlers?? That's before you even listen to the music!

Fortunately, I checked Facebook for tonight's on stage times and discovered that British Sea Power were doing a 'Quiet Set' first followed by the support band Brown Brogues and then a Main 'Loud' Set. A mad rush to meet friends and get to the venue followed, just in time to find BSP on stage! 

"Even the show's structure is unconventional. BSP perform two sets, wildly different in style and volume, interspersed by madcap guitar duo Brown Brogues – a mix of the Cramps and the White Stripes. BSP frontman Yan introduces the band's quieter set as "a gentle warm-up. Relax your buttocks." Subdued brass gives the new song Radio Goddard – a tribute to the songwriter Geoff Goddard, author of many of the hits produced by Joe Meek – the air of a colliery band. With a chorus revolving around the quaint phrase "Dear boy", the song also becomes a lovely epitaph to a lost England of tea rooms, Bakelite radios, Terry-Thomas and Ian Carmichael."

Unconventional, but then BSP are not your average indie band. Machineries of Joy is BSP's sixth studio album over a ten year period and by now they should surely only able to manage a 'Best of Compilation' with a couple of new tracks thrown in to keep the fans happy. Instead, Machineries of Joy contains some of their best work to date. I adore the title track 'Machineries of Joy' with it's 'Elbowesk' overtones and tonight they start their 'Loud Set' with it. A journey through their back catalogue then ensues, from B-sides, to singles, to new tracks, it's all here. It's not often I leave the Rescue Rooms at 11.15pm after a band has played 24 tracks in 3 sets! I had to go for a sit down and quick pint in Spanky's afterwards to recover. 

'Machineries of Joy' Live @ Rescue Rooms

I must admit to having fallen a little out of love with BSP over the last couple of years. But, like an overplayed album, if you leave it long enough, you play it again and you realise why you loved it in the first place. The new material from BSP is some of their best yet. Combine that with a back catalogue of some great songs and you have the makings of not only a fantastic night of entertainment but a sense of something a little special happening. On tonight's showing, this is a band of musicians reaching the height of their game, could they better this? I hope so!

Link's to some more footage I took, enjoy! 

'Remember Me' Live @ Rescue Rooms

"No Lucifer, No Lucifer" Live @ Rescue Rooms

Quiet set

1. True Adventures 
2. Hail Holy Queen 
3. Blackout 
4. Radio Goddard 
5. What You Need the Most 
6. Main Set
6. Machineries of Joy 
7. Lights Out For Darker Skies 
8. Bear 
9. When a Warm Wind Blows Through the Grass 
10. Spring Has Sprung 
11. Salty Water 
12. A Light Above Descending 
13. It Ended On An Oily Stage 
14. Waving Flags 
15. The Great Skua 
16. Mongk II 
17. Loving Animals 
18. No Lucifer 
19. K Hole 
20. Apologies to Insect Life 
21. Lately 
22. Encore:
22. Remember Me 
23. Carrion 
24. All In It