Tim Fletcher, Pink Violence, Sunrise over Europe and Spotlight Kid. Actress and Bishop.

stage times not accurate

Last Sunday my friend Jason (Pink Violence) performed his very first Pink Violence DJ set at the Actress and Bishop in Birmingham and sold me a ticket to see him for £5.

What excited me was the fact that Both Sunrise over Europe and Spotlight kid were playing, one who as already a fan of and the other i'd heard good things about. 

First up was Tim Fletcher, a Frank turner-ish singer-songwriter who pulled one of the biggest crowds of the night. What mainly impressed me about him was his guitar playing skills, he was able to use his acoustic guitar as percussion instrument while playing it, quickly tapping it like a drum in between the notes he would play. The guys finger tapping skills are also hugely impressive, the sort of thing that wouldn't seem out of place in a Rodrigo Y Gabriela gig. His voice was good too and he had some decent songs.

Next up was my mate Pink Violence who disappointing me slightly when he showed me that the set would be played on two laptops and an iPad, i was hoping he'd come up with a keyboard or something at least. I also wasn't expecting his set to be played on a bar table. it was a good set though, comprised of subtle samples and pounding beats. He didn't play any songs off the EP, instead mixing things together well you know, like a DJ. His music is still as forward thinking and futuristic as ever.
Sunrise over Europe have an album out called 'We Raised the Flames and Built a City on the Ashes' which I downloaded for £2 a few days before. If i was to put their music in a box I would put it next to The Boxer Rebellion, or 'Given To The Wild' era Maccabees. In reality though its very hard music to categorise, on the records they have a violinist who couldn't be there on that night. She was apparently having a baby, which the band joked was selfish of them. they coped well without her violin and other instruments on the record and instead focused on making echoing guitar based sound-scapes. On one or two songs they used three guitars, to build a haunting atmosphere, though on others they simply rocked out.

It was up to Nottingham's Spotlight Kid to finish the night, which was a big task considering the set S.O.E had played. They pulled it off though! Spotlight Kid are a band you can put in the same genre of indie as S.O.E only they use keyboards and have two vocalists, one female, one male. They put on a high energy set full of great songs, including the great new radio 1 play listed single 'Sugar Pill's. They were lit by strobe lights which gave a very creepy effect and entertained with some good audience banter.

the catchy hooks and energy of songs like 'All is real' impressed me a lot and i enjoyed their gig a lot.
I had a chat with the singer afterwards and bought a promo off her, and they all seem like lovely people.
A good night all 'n all.