Spidersimpson - Jabez Clegg Live Review

Spidersimpson
Jabez Clegg
Manchester
Tuesday, December 5
Live Review

Having released their first single recently, this Birmingham quintet is now on their first major U.K. tour, which will culminate with a sold out, 200 capacity, homecoming show just days before Christmas. Tonight's attendance is closer to a tenth of that figure though, so it's very much a case of SpiderSimpson introducing themselves to the city.

Things don't look great when the band's monitors fail to work and even after some technical expertise they still fail to come to life. Regardless, they begin their set and it's testament to the practise they put in that nothing will sound out of time or off-key. "It's You" crashes in like a tsunami, immediately grabbing the attention of those who aren't familiar with the group's music. It has a slightly more electronic direction on stage than on record thanks to keyboardist Dean Deavall, while vibrant frontman Adam Zindani proves a fantastically powerful singer and scintillating guitarist, ripping through the thrilling guitar solo. By the second chorus people are joining in with the howling "Ooh Ooh" backing vocals and it is something that will be repeated when the band blast through "Sadie Malone".

The hi-octane rock continues through "I'm So Tired" and "Heavy Metal Machine", but the band also show the ability to write songs of a more delicate nature, with "Give In To Me" allowing another chance for Zindani's vocals to shine. However, the jewel in the band's crown is "Fallen Out Of Love", which matches great lyrics about a failed relationship to perfectly suited music - right down to the shrieking guitar solo. Despite the poor turn-out, SpiderSimpson give fantastic songs a pulsating performance that is worthy of much bigger stages. With their album ready and set for release in late Spring, it wouldn't be a surprise for the band to be playing in much grander venues this time next year.