Reuben - supported by Ghost of a Thousand and Baddies (Gig Review)
Three fantastic bands in one night we couldn’t miss out on this!, so we sent Chris Barber one of our up and coming photographer/reporter who has a strong interest (and great taste) in music along to their gig in Birmingham to tell us how they shaped up.
Chris - “With Ghost of a Thousand’s vocalist watching most of their set from the crowd, combined with the quirkiness of Reuben’s per-song comments and the intimacy of Birmingham Academy 2, tonight was clearly about interaction.
Tom Lacey - Ghost of a Thousand
Lead man, Tom Lacey opens the set with the aggression and force I have come to expect from Ghost of a Thousand and certainly gets the first rows of the crowd into action. However, in a room which seems to support such a diverse musical tastes, it seemed the majority of the crowd were there to “observe” rather than to support either band. Tom went on to thank the security saying “I know I’ve made your job difficult tonight” and offer a tenner to anyone who can return his shoe.
Fresh from a warm up tour supporting SUM41, Reuben return to Birmingham to a very different audience. Lead man, Jamie, soon offers the chance for the crowd to relive their last gig in Birmingham by encouraging them to yell “Sh*t, sh*it, sh*t…”, shortly after arriving on stage supporting a duct tape banana mask, which was discarded after 10 seconds into the opening track, whatever it’s purpose was.
Jamie - Reuben
The interaction continued as they chose to experiment with acoustic versions of songs, which they have never done live to an audience, plus a new track which they never played live - both of which received a “sensible” applause from the “observing” crowd.
It was these short moments of interaction with the audience, not to mention an entertaining performance (regardless of countless tuning problems) that could turn “The UK’s Most Underrated Band” into a mainstream success.”
Jon - Reuben
Photos and text by Chris Barber
www.myspace.com/chrisbarbermedia
More info check out the following links
www.myspace.com/wordsfromreuben
www.wordsfromreuben.com/splash/twobythree/
www.myspace.com/theghostofathousand
If you fancy yourself as the next hotshot photographer or roving reporter get in touch and we could be sending you to review a gig or even a music festival.
