One of the main events taking place at this years CREATE festival is a music showcase called Re:Definition, which happened at the legendary Hackney Empire and hosted by east London rapper KANO (of GORILLAZ fame) on 7 July. Create Festival ends 25th May.

The walls of the Hoxton Bar and Kitchen are literally melting. It’s not even been that hot today, but even standing still, the sweat is dripping off every person in the room. The Glaswegian sextet have never failed to impress me with their live shows in the past, and I expected this to be nothing less. I could, however, see the heat being a bit of a problem.

They were back in London promoting their new album, There Is A Way, a follow up to the brilliant Hey Everyone.

The usual crazy antics kick off when they walk on stage. Nothing plays off a crowd better than two singers who jump around and give it their all. They open with a new number that’s fairly unfamiliar,and it’s clear they’re just warming up. Literally. They bring it right back with ‘Watch This!’, which starts with the infamous chanting of their name. Following this, everyone is made to squat down before flying straight back into things. Huge riffs and shout-a-long vocals led rocketing into ‘The Greater Than Symbol & The Hash’, which got everyone bobbing and dancing along.

By this point the heat was at boiling point, prompting guitarist David to exclaim ‘can someone open a window??’. They carry on, regardless, and it’s tracks like ‘E Numbers’ which sound better live than they do on record. With more vocal harmonies and singing from the two, this is a new twist but with a very danana feel. Old classics like ‘Black Wax’ are a massive hit, getting the crowd jumping, but the latest single ‘muscle memory’ is superb live, but it’s the finisher that really tops things off.

Ripping into ‘Infinity Milk’, they give it a final push in the intense heat, but it’s clearly taken it’s toll on everyone involved. Crates of water have been consumed, T-shirts have been abandoned, and during the encore, the bassist takes a few moments out to…throw up on stage. Now if that isn’t dedication, I don’t know what is.

By Mark Allen

The Notting Hill Arts Club on Notting Hill Gate is an inconspicuous venue. It’s most easy to wander by unaware of its presence. Downstairs, the booths, benches and soft-leather armchairs of the Arts Club satisfy the needs of a mixed clientele. The warm ambers of Communion Presents project upon the walls, accompanied by tassel and orb lampshades, giving the look of an authentic 1970s rock spot.

The first band of the evening receive one whoop from their first song and mild, polite applause as two young men continue their game of chess in a booth on the other side of the club. The next warm-up act, Scoundrels, offer some soulful sounds and provide us with a real electric, jam fest.

Treetop Flyers take the place preceding the headline act. Their lingering offering, ‘Rose Is In The Yard’, stands out from the rest. But not even a rousing rendition of ‘I Wan’na Be Like You’ could fire the audience’s engine room. The bassist, with all his might, during their final song gets only five pairs of hands clapping.

With Kill It Kid all set up and cracking into their set, the audience is slow to return to the floor. There are solid numbers but a lack of spirit at the start of the week. However, Chris Turpin’s unique, rasping vocals and Stephanie Ward’s slamming show on the keyboard brings the crowd back in front of the stage. Kill It Kid are a young ensemble but deserve their place at the top of the bill before a mellow, Monday night mob.

3/5

Daniel Baird

The show was A Father and a daughter – to make a reference joke. Supported, as he has done for the past 5 years, by his daughter Lucy Wainwright-Roche, Wainwright senior brought cynicism and humor to the Southbank Center. His daughter echoed this. Her fragile vocals compounded with lyrics of a first date, which ended in a collapsed lung; placing one in between calmness and hysterics.

Like her father, Wainwright-Roche has the gift of charm. Her anecdotes, like her music, are tangled with melancholy. Before a duet with her mother, Suzzy Roache, she said that ‘I know you haven’t come to see me, but thank you’. A rather touching moment.

That last night was – or not as the case may be – our penultimate night of existence, it proved a running joke. Unbelting his cynicism, Wainwright fittingly sang that the world is a terrible place, and so the end could not come too soon.

His performance continued in this light. It is cathartic. His lyrics simply lop out all the bile and buggery that life has to offer. And while he may waggle his tongue as he proclaims his profanities, it is the honesty of these profanities, and sadness behind the humor, for which he is great. He is more than taboo. While songs such as My Meds and The Acid Song were met with gafoors all round, Wainwright maneuvered us with sincerity through the break up of marriage with Your Mother I.

Eventually informality dictated the performance. It was tribute to Wainwright ‘s 21 studio albums that, what was earlier described by his daughter as ‘awfully quiet and polite’, became shout out of requests. Mingled between came stand ins from his daughter and Suzzy Roache. As all three ended the show, following two encores, the notion of the Von Trapt family could not but pop up.

By Patrick Wheaton