The Maccabees / Jack Penate

A man walks onto the stage in the small and dimly lit Night and Day on a rainy Sunday evening in the heart of the city. He is wearing a rather oddly put together outfit, reminding me of the days when I used to raid my Mother’s wardrobe in the name of “dressing up.” Skinny and shaggy in that rock star kind of way, the man smiles at the crowd with a cheeky glint in his eye and starts strumming his guitar before stepping up to the microphone to address the audience. This man is Jack Penate, ready and armed with his drummer and bass player to entertain us as a crowd.

At first, I was a little dubious of this man and his body thrashing stage antics. He appeared to be one of those people who dresses and acts in such a way to get attention, but as the set progressed into the first couple of songs, I soon realised that Jack Penate could be wearing a suit or jeans and he would still be just as entertaining and interesting to observe. His music falls into a category somewhat hard to define in a few simple words, but it definitely possessed the rock n roll edge, with a slight familiarity of The Kooks, but a little more punked up and raw. The sound was immense, literally blowing me back from the stage and the crowd jumped along enthusiastically, giving the whole atmosphere of the gig a very ‘festival’ feel, and Jack himself even called it a “carnival atmosphere.” Fun, fresh and lively as hell, Jack Penate is a man to watch out for and his songs are seriously catchy, especially the track “Got my favourite.”

Headlining were The Macabees, a group of guys from London with a young front man (Orlando Weeks) who carried the stage mannerisms of a certain Morissey back in those good old Smiths days. After the infectious energy that Jack Penate had earlier provided, the crowd were on an all time high, yet a couple of songs into the set it seemed to me that The Maccabees were lacking a certain gig aura and the ability to create one. Two die hard fans had positioned themselves at the front of the stage armed with cans of Strongbow and were more than willing to get the crowd going, even jumping up onto the stage during “Bicycle” but it made me shake my head in embarrassment rather than admiration. A fundamental problem with The Maccabees is that they are all in effect very talented young musicians, but on stage they didn’t seem to gel well as a band, and came across as five separate musicians which got a little tiring to watch. Weeks looked a little bored at times, which bothered me slightly. If a band doesn’t take their set seriously then why should we? Their songs sounded very similar as they were churned out, and whilst they were good, for me they just didn’t have anything unique about them.

FUTURE GIGS

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