Little Red

It’s always good to go into a gig with little or any pre-conceived notions about what you are going to witness. Having only heard both Little Red and The Holidays in passing on the radio, it was with this sense of the unexpected that I walked into the Cambridge hotel on this freezing cold Thursday night in Newcastle.

Surprisingly, the cold didn’t deter the punters with the back room almost full to capacity. I was a little miffed to realise, however, that I had missed the act that I was most familiar with – Andy Bull. Having heard good things about him live, I was interested to see how this Sydney troubadour’s ‘Blue Eyed Soul’ would translate to the stage. Alas, maybe next time.

Luckily, I arrived just in time to see Sydney four piece The Holidays take to the stage with gusto (probably buoyed by the large and supportive crowd.) especially the bass player who looked as committed to his Rickenbacker as the stony-faced Fugazi bass man Joe Lally.
Drawing heavily from the BritPop school of rock, The Holidays played a set of tight, well crafted power pop in the vein of the Arctic Monkeys with maybe just a dash of Buzzcocks upstartedness, that would make even the most cynical music ‘aficionado’ stand up and take notice – and possibly even tap their feet.

With the crowd getting denser by the minute, Little Red emerged to a wholehearted and resounding cheer and round of applause. The band responded by playing one of the most enjoyable sets this reviewer has witnessed at the Cambridge in recent memory.

This was due partly to the fact that Little Red looked like they were having the time of their lives up there – not least the drummer ,Taka Honda, who had a child-like grin from ear to ear throughout and whose playful head bopping was as reminiscent of Ringo Starr as his ‘like clockwork’ drumming.
The rest of the band gleefully swapped microphones and singing duties over such standouts as the cheerfully lazy Misty I, and Coca Cola - with tambourine man Tom Hartney, looking somewhat like the bastard love child of Paul Weller and Tim Rogers, working the stage with aplomb. Moving from mic to mic and slotting in on some highly polished three part harmonies reminiscent of Toto or the Beach Boys.

There is no doubt that Little Red aren’t trying to re-invent the wheel. Their oeuvre of 60’s inspired garage pop is hardly anything new. But that’s not the point. You kind of get the feeling that Little Red wants you to have as much fun in the crowd as they are having on stage -plying their brand of rock with smiles on their faces and without any hint of pretension.

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