GoNorth, Wed 8th May

Spare Snare rock da house

GoNorth, it must be said, is a bit of a bad way to watch music. Well, for the bands. For a punter who wants to OD on live music, it's ideal. Like a compilation album, you pick up 5 minutes of a band, then no sooner than you're getting into it, than someting else comes along. Which is how GoNorth works. On the plus side you get to hear maybe 20 bands in a night if you move fast enough between the Belmont Street venues, and the new Doctor Drakes, which is where we start. And take in 3 songs from a singer-songwriter from the Faroes, Teitur. A few people there are in for the novelty value, but I think it's fair to say that his compositions are probably the finest his nation is currently producing. From there, the last dash of the night, a 2-minute sprint to the city centre to Triple Kirks where Polar are playing. Well, I assume they are. The wee pub is so packed that all you can see is the backs of heads. Therefore it's hard to say much about the band, except if you'd told me Aereogramme were onstage trying out some new instrumental material, I'd have been convinced. (N.B. this is not necessarily a bad thing). Buddah Crush are in the more spacious Lava. A band who've been trying for that break through for years, they appear to have abandoned a load of their old tunes, the finest that the Manics never wrote. Also gone are the makeup, posturing and feather boas. Which is a shame as comparisons aside they could whack out a fair old tune. The high point of their set is "You're Going Home in a Fucking Ambulance" done to on of their old tunes and dedicated to anyone watching the football in the bar upstairs. Things are something of a blur but at some point Pariah played in the same venue, which was again pretty quiet. Dodgy sound also plagued the band and this combined with some unfamiliar new material meant they weren't as mesmerising as they have been in the past. I'm not sure if Spare Snare have ever been described as 'mesmerising' but their live performances are always engaging at least, with some (ahem) 'banter' between band and audience. The band have been rehearsing though - for around 10 years - and this shows as they deliver as together a set as they've ever done.Mainly performing stuff from latest album 'Charm' they still delve in for a rousing 'Bugs' to close. Astrid are a short hop away at Lava again and, eschewing the Danny-less Cosmics, we instead see a few songs from them, They're reliable as ever, doing bright harmonised pop in the way only Astrid can. And so to Bendy Toy, who's squeezed into the corner of Triple Kirks. Entertaining the audience in lieu of any visuals, Mr Toy, aka Stephen Evans, bounds around his kit like a dervish. A mix of new stuff and the more familar from the 'Fantastic Chicke'n EP follows, bringing the day to a lively, and exhausted close.