Gig review: Belle & Sebastian

On Thursday, I went to see one of the best bands in Britain today. That’s right, Belle and Sebastian.

The support band were a band called The Uptown Swingers. As an idea of the type of music they perform, they ended their set with ‘King of the swingers’. However they got a huge round of applause after each song and when they came back on stage to help B&S with one of their songs.

Then B&S themselves came on. And, my god, I have never seen so many instruments used in one gig. Used were:
10 guitars (combination of acoustic, electric and bass guitars),
5 violins,
4 keyboards,
2 flutes,
a cello,
a drum kit,
a grand piano,
an organ,
a banjo,
a tuba,
a clarinet,
a trombone,
a trumpet,
a french horn
and a variety of percussion instruments.

There were great songs, and some laughs. One of the singers decided to sing in the style of Johnny Cash, another member of the band claimed that everyone in the audience were students and the first thing we were asked was if we were comfortableor if we were too hot.

There was no encore, which was the only bad thing about the night. B&S were asked to perform ‘Pretty Vacant’ which got the response “Don’t tempt us” and much fun was had (especially by me smoking where I should not have been).

If you wish to read B&S lyrics, you should go here, here and here.