This is my first gig of 2024 and my first in weeks, I feel out of practice. What a way to come back though, with some childhood favourites. I was 11 when I taped ‘Crash’ off the Top 40 rundown on the radio and fell in love with The Primitives. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure I was listening to a lot of crap too, but I’d like to think it’s bands like The Primitives that opened my ears. Gullivers it’s fair to say is not a big room, but I do love venues like this and the more I come to this one, the more I like it. Not least because they’ve stopped over-selling it. It’s sold out tonight, but it’s not bumper to bumper. Something that perhaps this slightly older crowd appreciates too. Although not the fella next to me. As we’re waiting for the band to come and I’m taking my jacket off, I knock his raised pint pot into his teeth. You could hear the clink of glass on enamel, but he said he was okay after I’d checked a few times. Now as much as I’d say this band impacted me. It was really only that first album (that I copied from the local library a couple of summers later). After that I’m afraid I lost touch. They do thankfully for me, lean heavily on Lovely tonight though. And it’s there where we start. With a pound of the drum they kick off with ‘Thru the Flowers’. It’s a soft launch, the sound of shoegaze before that was probably a thing, ushering us in, before the tribal drums and buzz guitars of ‘Spacehead’ get everyone singing along with the “Sha La La”s. ‘Way Behind Me’ reminds me of The Vaselines ‘Molly’s Lips’. I’m not sure I’ve really loved this song before, but hearing it live gives it a fresh perspective. Having not seen them live before, I’ve no frame of reference but Tracy commands a stage well, silver biker jacket and a bow in her hair, it feels too small to contain her. There’s plenty of indie pop jangle, but stuff like ‘I’ll Trust in the Wind’ (I think I’ve got that right) packs a bit of bite too. I’m always drawn to the slightly darker stuff, so this really works for me. Tracy announces “this is a new one” which is greeted with “ooo”s from the crowd. It’s called ‘I Won’t Care’ and it’s pretty decent, staying faithful to the formula. It’s not ‘I’ll Stick With You’ though, what a cracking song. It’s a bouncy bugger with its catchy title lyric. Try keep still. I can’t, but I’m careful of the poor bloke with the sore teeth still stood next to me. After a quick retune, ‘Sick Of It’ erupts in a flurry of furious bass riffs. This is probably the only song that’s not on the debut that I know and I pledge to delve deeper into their discography. It’s brilliant. The temperature goes up (I’m glad I took my jacket off) and the room bounces as it sings. They’re a bit rough in places but endearingly so. I think it’s ‘Buzz Buzz Buzz’ that gets aborted, but I might be wrong. They pick up quickly though and crack on. “Is it time for that one” asks Tracy as that glorious guitar introduces ‘Crash’. It’s everything 11 year old me hoped for. Honestly, I’d happily have paid the entry for these 3 minutes alone and anything that follows is a bonus. ‘Really Stupid’ is bloody fast, sounds great and takes us toward the end of the set, before we get the faux encore. There’s no back stage here to escape to so there’s little point in leaving the stage. I hate this waste of time anyway. Instead they just pick up with ‘Out Of Reach’, another of my favourites, before finishing with the 60s vibes of ‘We Found a Way to the Sun’. A lovely way to start my gig calendar in 2024, with a great set from a great band it’s fantastic to have back. Catch them live if you can.
