The last one saw an incendiary Limbo debut by The Oates Field, another Limbo debut by brassy, west-coast outfit How To Swim and, of course, headliners Over The Wall brandishing new album Treacherous to a very warm welcome indeed.
First on, The Oates Field’s lead singer/guitarist and brains Alan Oates open with an acoustic cover of an Over The Wall song. It’s a fitting tribute and neat doff of the cap to kick the gig off. It’s also the quietest song he plays in his set and makes the next thirty minutes of energetic vitality stand out even more. Alan Oates was formerly part of a duo called Come In Tokyo. Very much a White Stripes-style band, it was just lead guitar and drums, with Alan’s erstwhile partner-in-crime on drums. They played at three gigs at Limbo in total and went down a total storm every times, so it’s a pleasure to see him return to the club with such a mighty outfit, again stripped back to the barest of bones, with just bass, guitar/vox and drums, but now rocking a less familiar on-stage dynamic and musical style. It has a bit more of an Eighties rock feel than the garage rocking blues howl of before, but The Oates Field are still completely raucous and still get everyone in the room going with. Limbo was so impressed, The Oates Field will be back headlining a bill of their own, with support from Eagleowl, at the first Limbo of 2011 on Friday 28th January!
Check out some great video from the Oates Field set here
Second on, How To Swim deliver something of a lesson in tightness for such a large number of musicians on stage. They’re a big band in every respect, rocking a brass section of two as well as cello, fiddle, keyboard/synths, guitars and drums – nine in total. They have something of a theatrical air, reminiscent of Glaswegian indie experimentalists The Low Miffs, with songs such as There’s A Building There performed with an earnest attention to detail, before it transforms from a slow, sinewy ballad into a hulking monster of a tune. How To Swim can make one hell of noise on stage. Well-rehearsed isn’t the word, abject professionalism seems more on the money.
Last on and the stars of tonight’s show in every respect, Over The Wall take it very much to the next level, though. With so many of Scott Carroll’s video clips now available for you to view on the Limbo YouTube, there’s little point in going on about it too much here, suffice to say the duo were bouncing with their customary enthusiasm from the off and the crowd were bouncing with them. Ben’s northern charm and Gav’s equally excellent humour would always ensure they got a very rapturous welcome, as they played all the songs from new album, Treacherous. But, with brass accompaniment from the How To Swim brass section plus OTW driver and friend Matt on bass, it’s an even bigger sound than usual as well. So, when they play Thurso in the finale, Limbo is at fever pitch and it’s a special moment, indeed, with Ben augmenting the song’s brassy flourishes with a full electric guitar solo. Check out video of ‘Thurso’ and ‘Don’t Listen To Them Son’ here.
Pictures and video by Scott Carroll
