Last Thursday was the launch night of the New Music Show Live, a brand new night of live music brought to you by the university’s student radio station Air3 Radio. Organised and run by their Heads of Music, Lucy Hume and Leigh Meyer, the New Music Show Live is a free weekly gig held every Thursday after the New Music Show on Air3Radio.com at the Crooked Arms in Bridge of Allan. Each week a couple of artists or bands are drafted in to play, making for a great way to for music lovers in Stirling to discover brand new artists and music. This week, Glasgow’s All She Knows and John Wean were playing live and they both performed excellent sets to kick off the New Music Show Live in style.
Experimental rockers All She Knows have only been a band for a couple of months, but already they are starting to make an impression. This five piece band have already headlined King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and have already supported the likes of The Specials. Also they were selected as one of two Scottish acts to play at the 02 Arena in London for the Surface Festival. Although better known for their heavier stuff, the band played a stripped back acoustic set that was absolutely amazing.
They began their set with Be That Way. This was a nice slow number and was an excellent way to open the set. The harmonies sounded amazing and classically trained lead singer Seb helped carry this track. Next up was the chilled Truth, which sounded great acoustically. Then came another slow tempo song in the form of What’s Happening to Me. Seb once again delivered a really powerful vocal and this track sounded amazing with a acoustic set up. Late O Clock was up next and was next up and was great with some fantastic harmonies.
If you follow the band on Youtube you would know that they do a number of covers, and today was no different. And they were all bloody brilliant. They started off with Maroon 5’s Payphone and followed it with Adele’s Rolling in the Deep, which once again highlighted the band’s fantastic harmonies. For Biffy’s Captain bassist Ross took over vocal duties for an a capella version of the song. He said to the crowd he would never do that song again; well he should, it was pretty damn impressive. Covers of Just the Way You Are, Everywhere You Go and Someone Like You were all really good, but the highlights of their set were their cover of Olly Murs Dance with Me Tonight and a mash up of George Michael’s Faith and The Zutons Valerie. They were incredible covers which had everyone, including myself, dancing. To conclude their set, they performed their first single Making my Way. It’s a very catchy song, with some fantastic harmonies and sounded great stripped back. Overall, this was a fantastic set from the young Glasgow band.
They then performed their next single M.A.P. This song isn’t about maps isn’t about no travelling. No, it’s all about getting some random women and pregnant and convincing her to take the morning after pill. Again it’s a fantastic indie song and a great acoustic performance.
To conclude the set, their did a cover of All American Rejects’ Give You Hell. On a personal level, I hate this song and when I heard that they were going to perform it I groaned, but they quickly won me over. This was better than the original and was a great way to end their set.
5 out of 5
To learn more about John Wean and All She Knows:
John Wean - http://www.facebook.com/johnwean
All She Knows - http://www.facebook.com/allsheknowsmusic
Photos taken by Kris Gunn
