29-05-2000 Revolver

Ah, a night at The Basement. A night of fine wine if you are partial and nice clothes. A night of quiet music without amplifiers. A night of table seating and waitress service. What the hell am I doing in a place like this? I must admit I dressed up for tonight, even going as far as to spike my hair up with a bit of gel, and whilst that wasn't entirely just so I could get in, I did actually start even feeling a little more sophisticated. Maybe I should try this look more often.

The first group on were The Miller's Tale, a wonderful duo that comprises some of the sweetest harmonies in town. I've seen them play quite a few times now, and they've been slowly growing on me the more I hear them. Each time I seem to notice a few more nuances in either the music or the vocals that just makes me go "ooh" and any duo that brings in a piano accordion for a bit just deserves attention. Awesome stuff.

Akradia followed on, and my first thought was that I should really be watching them in a dark, smelly room with lots of leather clad people pierced in places I didn't know existed, and playing much louder. After a while though, Jodee's voice started sounding much nicer to my ears and it all worked together quite well, especially when she started playing the snare ala The Lucksmiths. Special mention to Joseph Calderazzo who looked like he was ready to stagedive anyway, regardless of the night's feel.

Following on was Raoul Graf and some friends who I didn't recognise, but knowing Raoul are most likely from a local band of some sort. He performed a set of his acoustic tunes that are infused with that ol' country feel, and pretty much played the standard cruisey acoustic Raoul show. One day I would like to see him play a non acoustic show where he would be forced to rock out. I think he'd enjoy it.

From the first time I saw Stella One Eleven play at the ill-fated Sando, I've been a bit of a fan, despite their very commercial sounding tunes they pull them off with heaps of style and beautiful vocals and it's just too pretty to make snide comments about. Cindy and Genevieve sung wonderfully together, and bassist Pat broke the acoustic-only law by playing an electric bass. Stella went through the hits like 'Hard' and 'Mr. Big Car', as well as other album tunes that until now I have only heard with two guitars and lots of drumming. Very very nice.

Michael Azzopardi has that horribly familiar face that makes me sure that I should be telling you of his famous band, but I just have no idea if that is the case. Vocally he was a bit odd for the night - very very strong voice that boomed around the room, but after all the nice female vocals surrounding me it was a bit much. Great guitar work nonetheless, and maybe under other circumstances I would like it a lot more.

Glance had the unenviable position of playing last, way after the 'headlining' Stella, and as a result, the up until then pretty huge crowd had somewhat shrunk. They seemed unperturbed however, and played what I would never in a million years describe as an acoustic set. Drums, electric bass and even a semi-acoustic guitar were used, and sorry, that's just not acoustic in my books. The songs were obviously very well written and tailor made for radio, probably regional radio, but it just didn't turn me on that much. It didn't turn me off enough to make me leave, but that may have been just my childish enjoyment at pointing out to my friend how 'unacoustic' they were.

Overall a great showcase with something for everyone, and a nice little example of how well Club Acoustica and indeed the acoustic movement in general is going at the moment. Who needs amps anyway?