Burgers and guitars…
I’d never really heard Radiohead’s influence in Gengahr’s music until seeing them live and while they don’t quite reach the same level of quivering paranoia, they do have a welcome habit of closing songs with a noisy cacophony that even Johnny Greenwood would be proud of.
Gengahr arrived at Sheffield venue Bungalows and Bears with a critically acclaimed album under their belt and a growing army of fans at their backs. First though, support band Caro took to the stage with little fanfare but with a promising sound. I have seen a few brilliant bands at Bungalows but the support bands are almost uniformly terrible. Caro though, are a focused and entertaining mixture of The Maccabees and Bombay Bicycle Club and while they are missing that one big tune to push them from being a merely good band to a great one, they are certainly sharp and accomplished as a live act.
Almost showing up both bands as the main event of the evening was the quite frankly astonishing burger that I shoved into my fat mouth in between bands, but happily, this was to be Gengahr’s night.
The London band kicked off with new song ‘Mallory’, a breezy anthem that gives lead singer Felix Bushe an opportunity to showcase his vocal dexterity. It was the 90’s stomp of ‘Heroine’ that really got the crowd going however and from there they remained nestled in the palm of Gengahr’s loving hand. Following this, ‘Where I Lie’ and particularly a sinister ‘Embers’ sounded even more insistent than they do on record and the band showcased just how tight they have become as a live act.
Gengahr closed with a 5 song salvo which saw tracks from their first album A Dream Outside interspersed with new song ‘WWG’. While the new songs were well received by the Sheffield crowd, it is ‘Dizzy Ghosts’, ‘Bathed in Light’ and set closer ‘She’s A Witch’ that generated the best response.
Once again, I left Bungalows & Bears happy, full, and with great music ringing in my ears. Expect to hear much more from both the band and the venue in the coming months.
Oh, and for anyone wondering, yes they are named after the Pokémon.