Cherry Ghost and Polytechnic

After a quick detour to mine to use the washing machine (Stuart and K's having broken rather fatally this morning), it's on to a double headline gig tonight at Academy 3.

First up we have Cherry Ghost.



The lead singer and driving force behind Cherry Ghost, looks like a better looking (let's face it, it's not hard) Mark E Smith, the bassist like Bob Dylan's twelve year old nephew and the guitarist like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's younger brother. Sadly the music, whilst pleasant enough, is often similarly derivative (and not always in a good way - a bit prog at times, even a bit Showaddywaddy at others), with nothing of its own to truly set it apart.

As a live act, they're perfectly adequate, but somehow they fail to capture the audience's attention fully and take us beyond the feeling of "this is nice enough".

Stuart sums it up well by suggesting that if they were playing at the end of your garden, you wouldn't shut the window.

The kind of music, you might put on at the end of a long night, he suggests. But, I have to counter, with the wealth of other music out there, what would make you run the thumb wheel down to Cherry Ghost?

After a short break, the night takes an upturn as Polytechnic take to the stage.



Good tunes and a passionate performance, more than compensate for the odd minor musical stumble.

The audience response is much better, but they're still at the stage of winning people over as opposed to having a room full of sing-a-long fans like Little Man Tate last week. However, based on their singles to date and this performance, they could be well on their way.

Bizarrely, they've apparently just agreed to go on tour with Keane. I guess this will give them good exposure, but I can't help feeling it's a strange fit. Still anyone going to see Keane could no doubt do with something more interesting to help the evening along.

A free CD on the way out is a nice touch as well, hopefully the word will spread.

A post-gig curry is in order, and an uncommonly quiet Punjab is a nice chilled way to end the evening.