GIG REPORT: Redneck Manifesto + Red Sirus + Oak, Belfast Limelight, 19h January 2006

GIG REPORT: Redneck Manifesto + Red Sirus + Oak, Belfast Limelight, 19h January 2006
I'm trying to have a fresh approach to this, but tonight I couldn't help compare each band to previous times I had seen them.
Oak totally rocked in the Pavilion last July but tonight they are on first and there isn't as intimate a crowd to bounce off. I only caught the last three songs - one of which was a surprising cover of TRex's Children of the Revolution - and I was left a bit underwhelmed by their heavy heavy riffs. With the right atmosphere they can be a lot of fun, but I thought tonight fell a bit flat.
I have to admit that I had seen Red Sirus once before (at a Belfest show a couple of years ago). I didn't like them then, and I didn't like them any better last night. Sorry.
As the Redneck Manifesto started gigging around Ireland when I lived in London I never experienced their early, more hardcore shows. I became aware of them through their CD releases and I had only seen them live once before last night's show. They were hinting a jazzier direction then, and judging by the newer material on offer tonight they are sticking to it. They play a good energetic show tonight, even though they only let it rip a couple of times.