The Wardrobe is filling up fast with a substantial queue before doors, and perhaps as well, as Straight Girl is on barely after doors. They announce on their arrival on stage that they’re neither straight nor a girl before hitting us with some hardfloor industrial techno that ventures straight into overt dance. They’ve got moves as well as grooves as they pound and bounce and cavort about the stage with relentless energy, and there are some nice layered-up vocal melodies, too. It’s a strong set. Describing the lineup as the ‘gay superbowl’ and calling the ladies to the front while asking the gentlemen to move aside, she’s strong in her stance and I cast my eyes about the room to see a blend of college and university students, older couples, and middle aged men. I realise I’m unintentionally in the wrong camp – no pun intended.
Lucia & the Best Boys sound so, so polished, but without any loss of live edge. From the stage, they create density without overt volume. Buy they are loud too, their darker pop tunes occasionally leaning towards the styles of Nine Inch Nails, Depeche Mode, and Zola Jesus. Fr the most part, though, this is straight up electropop, and you can’t fault it.
Dream Wife is one of those bands I’ve been aware of a long time but never really explored in depth, but it’s immediately clear why the place is so close to packed: they’ve got songs, and no mistake, but their live show is next level. Propelled by a raw energy, their sound is perhaps best described as balancing punk and indie, delivered with several kilowatts of energy from all four of them.
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They’re defined, sonically, by taught, twitchy tunes with kinda cutsie vocals pitched against tremulous guitars and a thumping rhythm section. There’s no shortage of reference points, but to the fore are strong elements of The Fall. It’s easy to see why people are clamouring down the front: Dream Wife are nothing short of incredible in their intensity. They’re fiery, punky, fierce, and all of these things on their own terms. Having seen footage of their Norwich show a couple of days previous, it seems that bringing the ‘bad bitches’ to the front and giving the ‘gender is a construct’ talk before ‘Somebody’ is becoming a standard part of the set, but it’s fair enough beyond spontaneity, since this is core to what the band are about. ‘I am not my body I am somebody!’ they implore.
‘Sports!’ kicks in hard. ‘Just have some fucking empathy!’ Rakel Mjöll hollers and shrieks with splenetic vitriol on ‘Empathy’. When they’re fierce, they’re fierce, and it’s apparent that if you’re not savvy, Dream Wife could be your worst nightmare. But tonight, they’re on fire and it’s a rush to witness a band giving it this much guts.
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