Friday 25 November 2016

Ulysses and The Neighbourhood Strange @ The Winchester Gate, Salisbury 25.11.16

Blimey! That was a night out, and some; good company, good music, good venue and if I'm honest, too much alcohol on a near empty stomach. The evening was Ulysses and The Neighbourhood Strange at The Winchester Gate in Salisbury.  We'd seen The Neighbourhood Strange supporting Carlton Melton last year in another Salisbury venue and knew them to be good, and I'd been looking forward to catching Ulysses for some time now (I was hoping to catch them earlier in the year with Magic Bus). The Winchester Gate was a new venue for us and we were pleased to find it; a fine establishment and venue by all accounts,  manned by friendly staff (who humorously served drinks in a variety of inappropriate glasses, I had shots served in a standard whiskey glass, a wine glass and several in half pint classes, by far the funniest) and equally congenial patrons. We'll be watching for more at the Winchester Gate.

First up were Ulysses, a four piece rock combo out of Bath via the 1970's. Ulysses channel a variety of rich and diverse 70's musical flavours, polish them up a touch, put a contemporary spin on them and loose them with love on an  audience.  Tonight’s audience who filled the low ceilinged room were hungry for what was being served, enjoying every bit of it, plenty of dancing smiley faces showing their approval between tracks with thunderous applause. The band played tracks of their current, and hugely listen-able, album 'Law and Order' and kept us entertained inbetween with witty banter and a story about a car which as I remember was never resolved. All round a top band both live and on cassette, yeah, that's right cassette!  A great performance, I'll be looking out for them again. Next up were The Neighbourhood Strange a psychedelic/garage beat combo out of Salisbury via the days of future past, again diverse musical flavours at play, blended with care and skill, this time from a decade earlier, there's certainly an echo of the mid/late 60's going on, what's created can only be described as, nice (as said by the Jazz guy on the fast show). I enjoyed  The Neighbourhood Strange when I saw them last, and I enjoyed them even more so this time around.  Again, the audience loved it, the room was packed with dancing smiley faces, great atmosphere, home audience an' all. The nature of the songs, the names of which are unknown to be (but for the few I've listened to online), bridged time, in essence late 60's tunes though feeling very current and contemporary, all of them beautifully crafted, were a joy to listen to. I hope there's an album on the way. Both bands created immersive atmospheres in which you could really experience and enjoy the music to its full, well, it's definitely music to be enjoyed. Top night, bravo to all involved.    

No comments:

Post a Comment