Bearsuit

Many bands are labelled with the tag “Peel favourites” however very few can claim to be as loved by the great man as Bearsuit. As they took to the stage it was easy to see why. Previous gigs have seen the band sporting zombie outfits and school uniforms. This hometown show saw the six-piece cycle through the packed out audience before arriving onstage, proving their entertaining ideas aren’t just contained in their music but can be found in every aspect of the Bearsuit experience.

The gig was part of a large UK tour to promote the brilliantly titled new single “Steven fucking Spielberg”, released on Fantastic Plastic records, home to other indie high flyers such as The Guillemots and Help She Can’t Swim. Fans were clearly in attendance for more than just the new single though with old favourites such as “Rodent Disco” and “Chargr” receiving a great reaction.

Bearsuit don’t write songs about traditional things such as love and broken hearts. They instead prefer topics such as Star Wars, movie directors and robot sex. These tunes were just as imaginative and varied musically and the topics they cover lyrically. The stage resembled a primary school music room with theremins, cornets, flutes, keyboards and accordions all complimenting the traditional guitar, bass and drums set up. With such vast array of instruments you may be forgiven for thinking that the Bearsuit sound may be that of a cluttered mess. However the reality is they managed to produce an intricate and interesting sound without bombarding the crowd with an undistinguishable noise.

There was never any chance of people becoming restless at this gig as Bearsuit are a band that keeps an audience on their toes. Songs that sounded sweet and twee with Lisa Horton cooing over pretty flute lines soon turned into grungy guitar rock anthems with Iain “Mouse” Ross screaming his head off. Then when you thought you had the song worked out it would take another surprising twist soaring off to even greater heights.

The short but sweet set consisted of a mixture of songs from the albums “Cat Spectacular” and “Team Ping Pong” along with, of course, the single the tour was promoting. “Steven fucking Spielberg” was not only mentioned in the song but also in the backdrop as various clips from his films were projected onto the screen behind the band. Not that the audience would want to pay any attention to the films of course, who would when you have the riotous combination of Sonic Youth, Belle and Sebastian, a sci-fi novel and a nursery rhyme in front of you.

John Peel noticed these crazy guys and girls and their insane musical meanderings long ago and perhaps now could be the time the rest of the world sits up and listens. This certainly wasn’t my first Bearsuit live experience and if I have anything to do with it then it won’t be my last, I just hope they continue converting fan after fan with stunning live shows like this across the country. Then maybe one day they won’t just be topping the Festive Fifty but perhaps be topping the charts, in fact lets borrow Spielberg’s Flux Capacitor and find out.

FUTURE GIGS

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