If there was one band that I would say we had been most excited about seeing, the Levellers are that very band. We were in fact so excited about seeing them that we arrived at the venue an entire month early - only to be disappointedly met by the wrong band. Coincidentally, the night they actually did play was also the start of an epic far eastern voyage for me and my partner in crime, and an amazing start it was indeed.
The support band Sonic Boom Six were not at all my cup of tea, reminding me of a project my little sister might have started while in primary school. There was a lot of jumping, a lot of shouting and a lot of yellow littering the stage but generally not much in the way of musical substance. In fact, as artists and their selection of support acts go these two were particularly mismatched.
After a few rounds of pre-emptive beers, we got ourselves pitched up in the photo pit and ready for the Levellers. The crowd, including us were clearly in the mood and we could sense the electricity in the atmosphere as we waited impatiently. At last, the band stormed the stage opening with the lively “Life Less Ordinary” from their last album, “Letters from the Underground”. There is no doubt that they are a band that really know how to entertain a crowd, something that can only come with years of gigging experience. They kept going with their Celtic infused rock, and the crowd kept going on par, getting pretty rowdy up the front. When we were ejected from the photo pit after the obligatory 3 song limit, we paused between stage door and main doors for a quick cigarette to find a slightly mad elderly lady wielding a walking stick at security for kicking her out for smoking in the venue. We decided to try our luck upstairs in the circle for a few minutes of calm and enjoyed passionately played songs such as “15 years” and “What a Beautiful Day,” “Come On” and many others, mainly from their “Levelling The Land” and “A Weapon called the Word” albums. After another couple of beers however, we realised we were definitely missing the core of the action and headed down to the front for some good old fashioned jumping around, in what must have been the hottest, sweatiest, t-shirtless man-full moshing area I’ve ever experienced.
The night ended on a high note. The crowd began to move off, elated but a little disappointed the experience had to have come to an end. Meanwhile, we headed backstage to pick up the camera gear. Fuelled by alcohol and the general excitement of the gig, we decided to take Mark up on his previous offer to come and say hello and started navigating the many corridors and secret passageways of SBE in a bid to find him. Finally landing in the dressing room, saying a quick hello, all was going well until a member of the backstage crew saw us leave with a video camera and didn’t take to kindly to it! A few hairy moments ensued but eventually we escaped unscathed and hit off on our adventure towards Gatwick airport!
I personally cannot wait for the chance to see the levellers play again. They're a band that certainly hasn’t lost their ability to draw in the punters despite the many years or prior success and the “many years to come”!
Reviewed by Mirandacon
Interview by Jaydaman
9.5 / 11
Listen to the Interview here