Star
rating - 10/10
I make no apologies for my lack of objectivity
here - I Am Kloot are my favourite band and I love seeing them live, so this gorgeous gig in the beautiful and acoustically damn near perfect St. Philip's
Church in Salford, just an extremely competent stone's throw away from the best
city in the world (God's own - Manchester - in case you haven't guessed) was
always going to be a bit special for me.
But I felt a bit like a kid on Christmas Day
unwrapping my presents to hear them perform lots of new songs from their
forthcoming album Let It All In, due
out in January 2013. The good news is that the new material sounds brilliant,
and on first hearing has all the musical and lyrical charm that fans of IAK
have come to expect. The more I hear John Bramwell's brilliant lyrics, the more
I am convinced he is a bloody genius - with an ear for turning the common and
often mundane events of daily life into witty and poignant musings that go
straight to the heart of the matter. Their new single Hold Back the Night is a case in point.
But as well as new material, and plenty of it, we
were treated to plenty of old gems including the crowd pleasing damn near perfect
favourites Twist and Proof. They also performed some songs they
haven't sung live for a while, like Titanic
- groovy... Honest and irreverent melodic insights into relationships, drinking
and disaster are of course Bramwell's specialist subject. And he gets
top marks.
The band were on great form - with understated and
substantial talent also coming as usual from Pete Jobson and Andy Hargreaves. For
me I Am Kloot personify all that is fantastic and unique about Manchester - from
its precipitous climate, to its poetry and soul, and its ability to self
destruct, wrapped in a cloak of swagger and confidence. I can't wait for my
Valentine's date with them at the Ritz.
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