Page 56 - Black Velvet Issue 95

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THE ROCKET SUMMER / ALBUQUERQUE – BIRMINGHAM O2 ACADEMY 2, 31.10.17
It’s Halloween and possibly the only time you’ll find both the devil and a couple of robbers at a Rocket Summer show – in fancy dress, of course.
There’s a Halloween party in the Academy after the show, so the gig has an early curfew and a couple of fans have come prepared.
The night starts with Albuquerque – not the place, but the band from Northern Ireland. Their keyboard-driven indie rock fits in well as support to
The Rocket Summer, who also use a lot of keyboards in their songs. Albuquerque are a new band, now based in London, and offer a free download
of ‘Edge Of The Earth’, a song they
play live, while the tour is on. In-
cluding a cover of ‘Don’t Kill My
Vibe’ by Sigrid, the band come
across as a promising unit with
well-crafted songs.
It’s the ten-year anniversary of
‘Do You Feel’, The Rocket Sum-
mer’s third studio album, and first
album on a major label – Island
Records. The album received criti-
cal acclaim and is still one of Bryce
Avary (the man behind The Rocket
Summer)’s best albums. The
album is played in full from start to
finish and it’s fantastic to hear the
likes of ‘So Much Love’, ‘Break It
Out’ and the title track live again,
as well as songs from the album
that are played live a lot less. The
last time Bryce was in the UK was
at Slam Dunk a couple of years
ago, although his set clashed
heavily with Panic! At The Disco,
meaning he didn’t get the largest of
audiences. This time he has no-
one to compete with and has two
touring musicians joining him. His
set-up includes two drum kits so he
can have a drum duel with drum-
mer Teddy Ramirez partway
through the show.
Bryce talks about how much
he loves playing live, but hates the
separation of a barrier, so goes into
the audience to sing ‘Run To You’
in the middle of the audience. They
surround him like bees to nectar.
He is humble when he speaks and
at the end of the album perform-
ance thanks the audience for the
ten years, adding “Here’s to ten
more,” promising to come back to
Birmingham a lot more.
Bryce plays a long set – one
hour 45 minutes in total. He really
puts a lot of effort into his set - that
includes looping certain instru-
ments to give songs their own indi-
vidual sound. After his run-through
of the album, we then get a variety
of other songs. He asks the audi-
ence what they want to hear and
plays ‘Around The Clock’, ‘FL, CA’,
‘Gone Too Long’, ‘Roses’, ‘Walls’
and more. ‘Brat Pack’ features a
spray of confetti, while the set ends
with one of our favourite Rocket
Summer songs, ‘Hills And Valleys’.
In just over two year’s time, it’ll be
the ten year anniversary of Bryce’s
‘Of Men And Angels’ album, which
‘Hills And Valleys’ was a part of, so
if he doesn’t get back to the UK be-
fore, then we hope he’ll return with
a ten-year anniversary tour of that
one too.
YYYY
Shari Black Velvet

Bryce Avary (The Rocket Summer)
Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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