Red Light GO @ BAR EXCELLENCE - Bristol 9/3/2005 Lets get this in from the off. Bar Excellence is a dreadful place for a band to play. There's too many pillars, too many tables n chairs and too much of a reek of weekend pre-club pub for it to have the soul of a Moles or a Louis. So pity RLG for having to debut there. It can't have been easy. But fair play for making a go of it.Showing the kind of enthusiasm Jamie Oliver did in taking on the nations school dinners they set about trying to inject some life into a venue that's as flat as the earth was before humankind invented the air pump and inflated the earth all global like. To their absolute credit they debut with a set consisting entirely of their own songs. You could perceive this as cocky or brave but it is the right thing to do. The single "Was It You" is a chorus short of being a really good song but its got a lovely guitar hook and any fears that they won't have enough strong tunes are banished by better moments in the set. They have a frontman you can't help but notice, a backing vocalist who is able to add depth to the tunes and an assuredness that suggests they are aiming high. Sure at times you worry they've too much of a pop sensibility and that cynical hacks will just claim their Killers copyists but that's unfair. There's enough talent on display to suggest they could turn out to be as inventive as Chikinki and if they can let their musical hearts rule their heads just a little more often they could well have some journey ahead of them. 'Ere's 'oping. Dave Harry (The Public Folder) Click HERE to
download the set list from the night
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