Monday night was on a different tip, but no less "intense". We first saw "Kings Go Forth" last year in San Francisco so were already fans. The O2 Academy in Islington was an awful venue (situated in a shopping centre for christ's sake), and the support act sounded poor. This didn't put us in a particularly good frame of mind for the main act, but band leader Andy Noble (of Lotusland Records fame) is someone who is serious about music. I read a quote in an interview with him where he says he hates live music, and I kind of get whre he's coming from (it's never going to sound as perfect 'live' to a producer than on a record due to acoustics and dodgy performances). No matter, as after seeing them last we knew how good this band could be (even live!). One of the best things about seeing them live is the energy, there's literally no let up for the whole performance, no breaks between songs save for the occasional dramatic pause for effect or joke between the band which turns into part of the performance. You can hear the influences, no doubt, but it's new songs, new arrangements, continuing the tradition of making epic songs that people can dance to that producers like James Brown, Curtis Mayfield and Norman Whitfield started way back when. I want to tell you about their new material, more psychedelic, heavier, screaming Hendrix guitars, insane Whitfield extended proto-disco breakdowns, crazy Hancock moog freakouts, Gibbons drums for days - but words don't do it justice. I was down the front, wearing my KGF T-shirt flinging sweat and hair in every direction. Lovely stuff.
Kings Go Forth in Vietnam from Luaka Bop on Vimeo
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