We recently had the pleasure of attending Babybird's concert at the The Fleece in Bristol where the band delivered an energetic and dynamic performance. While not a full house on the first night of the tour, the eager crowd greeted the band warmly.
First up we had Tony Wright, Terrorvision frontman supported by guitarist Milly Evans. Although this is a very different Tony Wright to the one I first saw on the stage at Donington Park, Monsters of Rock festival in 1994, he still has that cheeky grin, those funny lines and instantly recognisable voice. The acoustic set, a quick canter through some new songs, older ones and even a Terrorvision classic were well received. The songs were self effacing and a little more heartfelt than those Terrorvision days and although Milly was feeling a little under the weather, the performance was strong and over in a heartbeat.
Babybird, a straight four piece, hit the stage and launched straight into the haunting ‘Failed Suicide Club’ from their 2010 release Ex-Maniac. This flowed into ‘The Life’ before launching into the gritty ‘Cornershop’ lifted from the 1996 album Ugly Beautiful that also spawned the hit ‘You’re Gorgeous’. The setlist was a perfect mix of old classics and new tracks, virtually equally split between Ugly Beautiful (1996), Bugged (2000), There’s something going on (2006) and Ex Maniac (2010), each song was performed with passion and precision.
The band were clearly passionate about their performance, and it showed in their music. Stephen Jones, the lead singer, had a great stage presence, interacting with the crowd and expressing the emotions of each song through his powerful voice. The rest of the band also played their parts brilliantly, providing a strong, cohesive sound that filled the room. Babybird are a straight up rock band, with subject matter for their songs that is raw and challenging.
Despite playing in a relatively large venue, Babybird managed to create an atmosphere that felt intimate and personal. It was far from a full house, which was a shame as the performance was a special one. What was a little disappointing was the comments from an audience member when Babybird came back on stage for the first encore. Stephen made a joke that it was hard work getting up the 4 or 5 steps back on stage and that venues should think a little more about the bands. When asked if there were disabled people present, a woman from the crowd shouted “he better not start taking the p&%$ out of disabled people”. Visibly upset by this, explaining that he had recently had a heart attack and it certainly wasn’t a source of humour. It must be frustrating for an artist to feel that they have to censor everything they say in case some, due to their own mindset, has to get involved with their opinion. You could see this left a bitter taste and tainted the remainder of the gig.
Encore 2 erupted with the massive hit ‘You’re Gorgeous’ (can you believe it was 27 years ago!?!?!), each word sang along but the enthusiastic crowd with the set closing with the song ‘The F Word’ (used by Gordon Ramsey’s TV programme of the same name!)
Overall, it was a really great night and I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and raw emotion of Babybird. The band were really together and the sound was fantastic. A great performance.
Words and Pictures by GM Gig Photography
