Like most things these days, I can’t remember the first time I stumbled across The Go! Team. All I know was that I was immediately hooked with their catchy brand of indie-pop (darn, I’m labeling now) which was very upbeat and cheerful. Also, I discovered them along with a similar sounding band called Architecture In Helsinki, whom I shall be seeing in April.
Until Tuesday, I haven’t seen either band. For some reason, they haven’t been on much gigs since I moved back to London in 2007. I am plenty sure that I didn’t miss a London gig of theirs.
Anyway, The Go! Team was ticked off the list last Tuesday with a fantastic show at Heaven Under The Arches near Charing Cross. Architecture In Helsinki will be ticked off in April.
The first support for the evening was Star Slinger whom I won’t even link to. He was another DJ spinning tracks, none of which enthralled the crowd. If it weren’t for my iPhone, I may done something really bad.
Thankfully, the second support band was so much more decent and was actually quite interesting. They are called Banjo Or Freakout who played a decent set and more than deserve a second listen to.
The Go! Team was a band for the evening and during the wait, I chatted with this Canadian fellow who has seen them in different cities such as Ontario, Vancouver, Singapore, and now London. He was quite surprised that I’ve never seen them before considering I’m from London. Weird.
With their new album released a few days before this gig, it was to be expected that a lot of material this evening would come from their latest album, Rolling Thunder, and as such, started off with the first track, T.O.R.N.A.D.O.
Much of the evening is quite hazy now not because of the alcohol but because of the craziness on stage. Here’s a setlist I found on Setlist.fm.
- T.O.R.N.A.D.O.
- Get It Together
- The Power Is On
- Bus-Out Brigade
- Ladyflash
- Ready To Go Steady
- Junior Kickstart
- Buy Nothing Day
- Grip Like A Vice
- Bottle Rocket
- The Running Range
- Everyone’s a V.I.P. to Someone
- Panther Dash (encore)
- Rolling Blackouts (encore)
I do believe the list isn’t entirely correct as I’m pretty sure the band played Huddle Formation, Secretary Song, and a few more songs their second album, Proof of Youth.
Their performance was pretty incredible. Most members of the band were busy rotating instruments which is always a job to watch in a band on stage. Instruments even included a typewriter.
Front-woman Ninja is probably one of the most energetic person you could watch on stage almost to the point where you would start to feel tired for her. She was busy dancing onstage, doing high kicks, and being an aerobic instructor onstage. It was quite crazy but man, was she fit.
Two other female members of the band also helped out with vocals on a few songs the most notable of which was Ready To Go Steady which is such a cute song.
Highlights of the evening were Huddle Formation, Panther Dash, Get It Together, and Grip Like A Vice.
Ultimately, it was quite an incredible night and the wait to see them live on stage, although grueling, was well worth it.
I am quite looking forward to seeing Architecture In Helsinki in a few months. With that said, I hope The Go! Team play another London date sooner than later.
Note: Apologies for the extremely appalling write up. It feels rushed and written without effort as I really need to just get this out and not have another pile of gigs to blog about. Then again, hardly anyone would read this anyway.
