The King Blues – Live @ Fire, Vauxhall
Posted in Gig Reviews on February 8, 2009
The King Blues are a band on the rise, and this gig marked the start of a tour which will culminate in the release of perhaps their biggest single yet. From the queue round the corner into the packed Fire club, there was a sense of overwhelming anticipation, nicely summed up by Jonny Fox, the lead vocalist of the King Blues, ‘we didn’t think enough people would even turn up let alone pack this place out!’.
The self proclaimed Folk/Punk/Reggae outfit really are a whirlwind of musical styles and from the get go they really got the crowd going. The band and the crowd merged as fans took every cue from Fox, from the popular ‘Let’s Hang the Landlord’ to the anthemic ‘I Got Love’. In between were heavily ska rhythm driven hits such as ‘My boulder’ and ‘Mr Music Man’ with dub bass lines.
The 6 piece’s musical bow gained yet another string, descending almost into a rave with whistles and drum and bass beats. Their single release and perhaps most well known track ‘Save the World, Get the Girl’ quite disappointingly, but perhaps modestly, came and went fairly rapidly before the band left the stage only to return a few minutes later, to a collective chant of ‘We want more!’ from the crowd.
The King Blues are a very rare talent that arouse that 70’s punk spirit like very few bands can these days. ‘What if punk never happened ‘directly addresses this in which Fox raps solo about fighting to regain this lost spirit.
The band finally left the stage to a resounding chorus of ‘taking over, taking over’ in which Fox pitted the two sides of the room against each other. For a band so on form, the gig ended before its time but no doubt we’ll be seeing a lot more of them in months to come.
Darren Hollands