After two visits to the Greenbelt festival, Vigilantes of Love's first true UK tour was something of a mixed bag, attracting between 20 and 200 people to various stops. The first show I was able to attend was the second in the Greater London area, at a prestigious club called the Mean Fiddler. A deceptively laid out bar area much larger than it appeared and overhung by a large balcony area was the scene that greeted me as I made my way into the venue.
For this trip, Kenny Hutson had to leave several of his multitude of instruments behind in Georgia and was only able to draw upon two guitars and his trusty mandolin. That mandolin was one of the highlights of the evening's music for me, Hutson had been joking about buying a cheap new mandolin so that he could destroy it, and the way he played "Undertow" that seemed no understatement!
Support was from three more local acts. North Londoners Dust pulled off a tight set of slightly Hendrix tinged 90s hard rock. Tribe of Dan followed Dust. Dan Donovan's music is sometimes difficult to penetrate and while those of us who were familiar with the two Tribe of Dan albums and Donovan's unique approach to life enjoyed the swampy-punky music and between songs jabber the applause was not as loud as for Dust. Blueberry were another thing all together. Definitely the most accessible band of the evening, their light guitar-pop was expertly performed, and Cathy Burton's vocals rode clear on Mowf's versatile bass and the shining sound of the two guitarists.
For those of us who's managed to catch all three of these acts at
various summer events there was only one major attraction. Vigilantes of
Love took to the stage for an unfortunately short 40 minute set, which
was rather punctuated by various guitar problems. The band were in great
form, with a set taken mainly from Slow Dark Train. The electric
sound certainly was powerful and the alterna-roots influences shone through
along with Bill Mallonee's passionate lyrics, but it would have been nice
to have heard the pedal steel sounds from newer material.
Attendance was slightly below break-even point for the promoter,
and the set was too short for the crowd, but Vigilantes Of Love are building
their following in the UK, and doing it in style.
After a trip up to Leeds and across the sea to Ireland, Vigilantes
of Love returned to London to play in a pub in an area called Putney. The
Half Moon has quite a musical history, having played host to names such
as U2 in years past, and currently features an All Star United poster on
the wall.
Bill and Brenda Mallonee brought me up to speed on recent doings.
The shows in Ireland had been quite a success, and the day they spent in
Dublin immensely enjoyable.
We all headed through to the back room to hear the support act, Fono,
who are spending some time tuning up their live show in Europe before heading
over to the USA for their Stateside album launch in the new year. For the
second time in recent months I saw the band pull off a tight, punchy alternative
rock set with more than a little melodic sensibility.
This time around, Vigilantes of Love got over an hour and they made
good use of it, playing tunes from Killing Floor, Welcome to
Struggleville, Blister Soul, Slow Dark Train, To the
Roof of the Sky, some unrecorded new songs, and "Double Cure" from
the Warner Brothers compilation self-titled album. Given the longer set,
the pedal steel was missed a little more this time around, but for their
last show of the tour, the band pulled off a very special night. Particularly
worthy of note was Hutson's "Beavis and Butthead" impression in response
to the boisterousness of a certain female contingent in the audience. "Heh,
we need to be in a rock band" seemed more than fitting at the time,
perhaps this is how they can fill those awkward tuning moments...
Vigilantes of Love are about to start recording a new album for Pioneer
Music Group, their new label, but found some time while over here to record
an EP with tour manager JJ's label Startled Chameleon. The appearance of
that release depends on sales of the European version of To the Roof
of the Sky-- a must for the completist with its improved artwork. E-mail
MrJJ@compuserve.com for more details.
