The Peel, Kingston, London

Well, after my Sat-Nav mishap the last time I drove to The Peel, this time I just went with my instincts. After all, I have been there a dozen times or so, so I should know the bleeding way by know. And to my surprise, I did, and had the unusual experience of being there before the doors were opened. But only by a minute or so, so I didn;t have to wait long to get to the bar. It also gave me a chance to have a chat to Martin Leamon, guitarist from support band Crimson Sky.

The pre-gig music was getting the crowd in the right mood - Touchstone, The Reasoning, Magenta, Kate Bush. Almost a challenge to the bands!

And so, soon Crimson Sky took to the stage, the band playing an instrumental opener before Holly Ann Thody gracefully clambered up onto the stage to join them in the first number, After The Rain, which itself had an extended start, due to Holly pulling the mic to pieces! But they were soon in their stride, with Holly's vocals and Martin's guitars powering over Chris "The Hat" Cadey's keyboards, all supported by Clive Lambert's bass and new boy Ali Woodman's steady drumming. This lead it's way into Turn It Up, which includes the scream to end all screams, as well as totally prog keyboards. They followed this up with the evocative The Sea, showing that the band is improving on the live stage at every turn. Holly's stage presence is amazing, almost mesmerising in places, while Martins guitar blazes.

The keyboard and guitar intro signified the entry of Misunderstood II, which gives the band a chance to flex their muscles on the end section, Chris especially on the keyboards. Holly then introduces the enigmatic Season's End. All the tracks played so far have been taken from the bands debut Misunderstood album, but an impromptu musical break heralds the unreleased Another Way, a slow paced, piano based atmospheric tune that gives Holly the chance to show off some moves. Along with the track Sleep (available from their websire) this shows that the band have massive potential. There's also the obligatory band intros which makes it feel like the end of the set. But no!

The final two songs, A Sleep That Burns and Misunderstood III round off their set in magnificient style with 20 minutes of pure prog. I think the band made some more friends here tonight, and I can only see their upward climb continuing thru 2010.

After a short break for a bit of fresh air, and another pint of the black stuff, it was time for tonight's headline band, IOEarth to entertain us. I'd been looking forward to this gig for a while, as IOEarth's debut album (reviewed here) is a stunner. The band - Dave Cureton (guitar), Adam Gough (keyboards), Richard Cureton (drums) and Marc Williams (bass) - kicking off with Storyteller from their excellent debut album. This went into Smoky Wood, where they were initially joined on stage by the sax-toting Luke Shingler, before blonde bombshell Claire Malin entered to give it some vocals!

Then Dave introduced the next song as being one of the "commercially, poppy" numbers from their "mad album", and with that, Claire, Luke and Adam fired into a stripped down and chilled out rendition of Take Me, which is possibly my favourite track on the album. This version reinforces that to me. Come With Me followed on next, Claire again excellently handling the vocals which had been performed on the album by Steve Balsamo, while Dabe nailed the guitar.

As he was introducing the next song, The Creation, Dave quipped something that we all know deep down: being in a band is an excuse for ugly men to get a good looking girl singing. He's right, you know, just think of The Gossip. This long instrumental piece really gives Dave a chance to show off his guitaring. The chunkier Light And Shade was next on the agenda, again giving the band a chance to showcase their chops, even though it is, apparently "a bit of a bugger to play".

Band introductions followed, including several Tommy Cooper gags courtesy of "Andrew Cough". Or "Calf". I dunno, these Brummies and their "accents"!

A version of Sun Going Down was next, with Claire taking over the male operatic voice, and it worked very well. All of a sudden, it was time for the last song. Luckily it was the nine minuter Harmonix

I had wondered how the band would transform their excellent album to the stage. I think they did an excellent job, picking up on the peices that would work the best in a live situation, and handling them very well. IOEarth are another band who appear to have a rosy future.

Well done again to The Peel for putting on a wonderful show, with the added attraction of lasers!

IOEarth are playing a few more gigs soon. They'll be playing at the The Jam House in Birmingham on 2nd March, then they'll be supporting Shadowland at the Wesley Centre, Rotherham on the 6th March before heading down to the Winter's End Festival in Stroud, where they'll be playing on Sunday 14th March. Meanwhile, Crimson Sky will also be appearing at the Winter's End Festival, then at The Griffin in Frome on April 23rd.

For better photos, see Neil Palfreyman's IOEarth and Crimson Sky sets, or Bo Hansen's Crimson Sky set.

Happy Days!

Share on Facebook