The upstairs bar at the Kind Alfred was already a sauna due to body heat even before the first band
appeared on stage. With room for about 80 people, this wasn't the roomiest of venues in the world, but
the atmosphere was excellent as the crowd waited in anticipation.
First up on this two band "Used Jonny" bill was Sohnee, coming back from a year-long break to play an
acoustic set that was still filled with angular lyricism and a Therapy style rock sound.
Highlights of the set included "Evil Angel", "Catch Me" and "Insanity", which all translated well to the
acoustic guitar, and surprises included a off-the-wall cover of The Poppyhead's "Only You". The
enthusiastic crowd were treated to stage-climbing, regular invasions into the crowd and a rock and roll
guitar-throwing ending.
Harsh took to the stage and instantly impressed the crowd with a new song that had a thundering verse and
race-car chorus and before jaws could be put back into their "closed" position they followed with a
relentless stream of hooky garage-rock tracks.
The crowd enthusiatically got involved as Harsh raised the temperature even further with "Felix Leiter",
"Appliance of Science" and "Project", which triggered a stage-invasion that proved that the audience
wanted to be as involved as they could.
This was a small-venue great-atmosphere gig with a real underground feel that made you feel proud to
have "discovered" the bands. This gig reminded me why I go to watch live music!
