The Kerbs The Sugar club

The night started with support from a quaint little two-piece who were slightly reminiscent of Travis Although their stuff was quite good they struggled with a chatty audience but managed however to draw a healthy clap from the reluctant crowd after each song. They sounded as well as any two-piece could from where I was standing at the back of a 50 or so strong crowd more interested in the days events and coronation street than they were in the music itself. At one time I almost lost interest myself but was drawn back into the vibe with their last song which was a great little rock song with fantastic use of backing vocals. A great end to a relatively short set. Now on to the main event. Before The Kerbs even took to the stage the steadily growing crowd was treated to a short display of arty slide shows, which led to The Kerbs taking the stage in almost spectacular fashion. The crowd were silenced from the offset with a song reminiscent of 'commitments' style music, but that was probably just a psychological thing on my part because of the two saxophone players. Blending a mix of jazz and blues in the second song The Kerbs are proving themselves to be a good original live act although the style of music they play is not so original. I guess you could say this music fits into the "sexy" category, Irelands answer to Barry White, well, not quite. With more styles than the salon on steroids the funky jazzy 6-piece band blasted out their third and fourth song and the music just got better and better. By song 7 the band had to a lonesome 3 members on stage, even at this stage they were still entertaining bringing in the big guns (instrument-wise) including guitars, saxophones, harmonicas and tambourines, simply excellent. This was the end of the honeymoon period of the gig as the crowd slowly drifted back into a chatty slumber. The Kerbs took a while to get back to full strength after regaining all their missing members and after song nine or ten I could barely hear the band through the constant murmur of the audience. This style of music would better suit a jazz bar than a live music venue as they unfortunately lost the crowd completely in the technically perfect set I must say. Towards the end of the gig the crowd had grown to about 200 people and some of them even chanced a quick dance to relieve some stress after a hard day at the office. A couple of songs later and the floor was rocking to The kerbs who I guess you could call mix between Fairground Attraction and Dexy's Midnight Runners, a touch of Madness with a bit of soul dropped in for flavour. The last song was entitled Shakedown Baby and was a fitting end to a good night. If you want to listen to a relaxed set and release some stress, check out The Kerbs. You wont be too disappointed.

Review written by: Gary Baitson --

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