Reviewed by Oliver Boyle
Photographed by Kevin Gaughan
Organised by Resin Events
Ahead of the semi-finals in the forthcoming weeks, this weekend saw the bands Sculptures, Black Annis and ‘SAUR battle it out in Duffy’s Bar for the chance to progress into the semis.
A warm Sunday afternoon sets the mood for a night of live music at Duffy’s bar. The first one is Sculptures, a 4-piece metal collective that, like all the bands who performed on the night, are local to the city and wider county.
With an eight song setlist featuring their new single they released earlier in the year Viper – and a personal favourite, Trigger Warning, a metal ballad which you can’t help but to screw your face and bop at.
While one of the songs allowed the guitarist to do a solo amongst the punters on the floor, allowing the lead singer to take a much-deserved respite from his screaming vocal performance and indulge in a strawberry Yahzoo, the crowd starts to fill for the second performance, Black Annis.
Next up was Black Annis – from the first song you could tell the drummer was about to put in one hell of a graft, and a graft that drummer put in, along with the frontwoman and most notably their performance of their song bring out your dead -these two were able to secure their spot after a close audience vote at the end of the gig.
The third and final act of the competition part of the gig was performed by ‘Saur (as in Dinosaur!), a “four-piece punk rock” band who, like the rest of the groups who played, are local and playing a big part at the heart of the music scene in Leicester.
After quenching his thirst with water, during their song H20, they played Unsolicited D*ck Pick, an energetic call to arms which sought to discourage the sending of Unsolicited D*ck Picks – This saw the invasion of the venue floor from the lead singer who after subsidising his vocal workload with that of the audiences in the chorus, then swooped them into a circle pit- the likes of which I’ve never seen before – as frontman, Adam exclaimed, ‘a circle pit is essentially skipping in a circle’!!!.
Congratulations to Black Annis who won tonight’s heat – they now get to play the semi finals on the road to Bloodstock!