The Gossip at Concorde 2 , Brighton.

By John Cox

5th Nov 2006

Venue: Er... SMALL. 300 standing maybe? But this is a music venue first and foremost. With DJs playing a variety of Indie music it sets the mood. Location is seafront and the building is old. Its wooden floorboards have seen the best of times. The place to some may look shabby, to me it oozed appeal. Acoustics are good. Bass bins sitting on the floor in front of the stage pound you like nothing I have ever heard - lurvely. Stage is in a phrase "In yer face". Concorde 2 is the place to be.

Support 1: Panther - the man plugs in his iPod to the soundstage and presses play. What is he doing? Interesting rhythm, but what is he doing? Ahh...ok... he is dancing. Faces of people looking at each other almost asking for re-assurance of what they are seeing. A slim man in his 20's dancing on "his own terms". Ok..ok... i can see past that, whats the vocal like. Hmm... Interesting. Two songs in and I am sucked in as we all are. Hypnotic moves come second to his interesting rhythms and suitably accomplished vocal. Weird? yes. Interesting? damn right.

Support 2: Comanechi - Two piece equation of male rock guitarist from USA and female vocal..drummer from Korea(?). This is bright, brash punk. Not particularly my scene but there were moments for both myself and the crowd to get involved. Most interesting of which was the introduction of the song "My Pussy". Yes, all is what it seems.

The Gossip: Easily the most accomplished band I have seen in years. 4 years of touring and touting their wares have brought them to this. A three piece band from Portland, Oregon. Brace Paine - guitar and bass, this is his sound, he owns it. No over indulging guitar solos required from this guy. He filled the soundstage with his own persona all via his guitar. Hannah Billie (male honest) drums - In most music you can apply the KISS rule. Hannah does that here. Never over complicated but just plain rhythm with his own brand of understated fills. Beth Ditto (Vocal) - how good is it to see someone love the audience as this girl does. You are 3000 miles from home and you fit in like a 2p in 2p machine. Stonking vocals brought the audience to heights and when required brought them down to earth again. Hearing and seeing Beth sing puts the likes of anyone on your XFactor like obscenities to shame. As a band these people "work" better than most I have seen. Tragedy struck half way through the set! Braces guitar fell to one side and boink - off came the guitar head. God you had to feel for him. Comanechi to the rescue with his guitar. Brace just got on with it. Do not miss this band. The NME stated they were the best live band ever 2 months ago. Bah... I doubted. After my initial doubts I had to agree... their sound is currently unique and I hope it will breed a new generation of genuinely music loving bands.

http://www.myspace.com/drummerbod