Friendship at 229

Friendship at 229

30 January, 2009
by: Stevros

I don't think it is the credit crunch that has rendered Great Portland Street's 229 venue a bit of a ghost town tonight. Possibly it's the ramshackle bill featuring two musical embarrassments  and two eagerly anticipated acts, which deters gig goers and has created a half filled room, relatively devoid of atmosphere.

Delta Spirit are one of the highlights with an American alt country aesthetic akin to newer Magnolia Electric Company or Okkervil River.  Their particular blend varies from straight up American rock to Northern Soul-influenced numbers and more experimental and lively pieces using two drum kits and bin lids as instruments.  A solid performance if a little dry, from a band who are hotly tipped by various radio stations and magazines.

Last but not least tonight come Friendship: a local two piece with Hills on drums and vocals and Willard on guitar/effects and tonight only a laptop triggering loops that refuses to work for the majority of the set.  Tonight is Friendship's fourth gig and they have the biggest and most attentive crowd of the night, however I think they will remember tonight for what didn't happen rather than what did. 

On starting their second song their trusty macbook decides it doesn't compute and after two more attempts the duo give up on the song completely and move on.  The next song starts well but unfortunately at some point the computer again decides not to play nicely and the song ends in a mass of confusion between the two piece band. This is somewhat salvaged by them managing to finish the song due thanks to musical dexterity and a level of familiarity with their work. On a good day this would have escaped unnoticed but tonight is not their night.  After more technical hitches Friendship bash through one more song and then an impromptu cover of Nirvana's raucous teenage angst sing-along 'Territorial Pissings'  before calling it a day.

Although the gig's shambolic nature completely disrupts the momentum of the set and technical difficulties win the day, overall the show is still enjoyable.  Friendship deal with their problems well, with good on stage banter mocking their own unprofessionalism and cursing their own bad luck which creates something of a rapport with the audience and even a hint of atmosphere which the room has been lacking all evening.

Musically Friendship come across as a similar style to No Age (with a much more competent drummer) and a guitarist with Abe Vigoda style tropical punk riffs in his array as well as the guitar noise championed by No Age's Randy. The songs seem interesting and catchy, possibly more so than they should be after a mere four shows.  To take the No Age comparison further, I have seen No Age be a total shambles, to the degree where they fought tooth and nail with each other and this is after them playing two hundred odd shows. Assuming that Friendship can last that length of time then they could be a force to be reckoned with.

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Stevros