Many thanks to Dave Champion for his review of last week’s Bees gig at the Winter Gardens. Ed
Thursday the 8th of July saw one of the most important events for Isle of Wight music in a long time.
A sold out Ventnor Winter Gardens played host to the The Bees and support band The Shutes; two of the Island’s very best bands.
The Ventnor-based Bees, fresh from performing at Glastonbury, were playing their first gig on the Isle of Wight for a couple of years, leading many Islanders to question whether the band still existed.
An album on the horizon
They have in fact been hard at work over the last year, having recently signed to Fiction records; home to The Cure, The Maccabees and Elbow. They are in the final stages of producing their fourth album and lead singer Paul Butler has had a busy year producing Devendra Banhart’s latest album, and playing live with him on UK tour dates.
Smashing Shutes
Support band the Shutes are one of the Island’s most exciting new acts. Since their formation in 2008 they have completed two European tours and are currently putting the finishing touches to their EP due for release in September. The band are also in the process of signing a world-wide publishing deal with Sony/ATV (more to come on that later. Ed).
The evening started with The Shutes’ Mike Champion singing alone on stage to the captivated audience.
He was joined half way through this first song by the rest of the band, creating a powerful and moving beginning to the evening’s proceedings. The band went on to work through their already impressive arsenal of songs in a slick manner, displaying a level of professionalism fitting to a Bees support act.
The Shutes did exactly what was asked of them, with the audience pumped up and ready for the headliners by the end of their set.
No ghosts here
The Bees took to the stage soon after, welcomed warmly and loudly by the buzzing Winter Gardens crowd. They started with ‘These are the Ghosts’ setting the up-beat tone for the rest of the evening. The Bees have an impressive ability to truly create their own distinctive and familiar sound when playing live.
Butler’s soulful voice, combined with Tim Parkin’s pitch perfect harmonies and the group’s raspy brass section, filled the Winter Gardens hall and the audience responded with growing cheers and applause.
Although a few new tracks were played, such as the brilliant ‘Really Need Love Now’ the band kept mainly to songs from their last three albums, reminding the audience how consistently good their back catalogue is.
All swap
Aaron Fletcher took over in the front man position for a few songs, whipping the crowd in to frenzy with his infectiously enthusiastic performance style.
When they left the stage, the crowd responded with loud rhythmic stamping, demanding more, which is what they got when the band returned for their encore, finishing as strongly as they’d started.
The evening as a whole was a resounding success with one of the best atmospheres of any Island event in recent times.
A great night had by all and no doubt a few stuffy heads the next morning.
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Julian Winslow
