In an attempt to address the lack of music from Northern Ireland on this site (* I am from N.Ireland therefore I kinda feel guilty about this!) I went along to this eclectic line-up at the Empire in Belfast. I was really here to see Tom McShane as it had been ages since I saw him on stage. I was slightly concerned that his music may get lost or drowned out in the large venue, bit I needn't have worried. The crowd stayed quiet and listened to the subtle quiet opener so it was obvious a lot of them knew what to expect. Strangely enough I the rest of the set was more uptempo and noisier than I expected, some really strong tunes too.
I was hugely impressed with When Pilots Eject. I had had caught the end of one of their shows a while ago and I always mean to check them out, and tonight's show was really impressive. Their mix of laptop electronica and shoegazeness just hit the right spot for me, and they had some stunning visuals too.
The Winding Stair finish off proceedings as tonight is their Glastonbury warm-up. It's mightily impressive that they have been asked to play this year's Glastonbury whilst unsigned and still pretty new to the live scene. With cello, violin and acoustic guitar backing up a strong female vocal they play an eerie modern celtic folk music. Unfortunately they didn't do a lot for me, and I really didn't like their cover of Massive Attack's 'Unfinished Sympathy', but it was my first encounter with them and I never write anyone off after a first listen. The only song I actually liked was the one that was just vocals and bodhran, so maybe I have issues with the instrumentation? Who knows. Folk music and me don't always get on (although I like a lot of it I cannot stand Richard Thompson for instance!), but for me the blissed-out electronica of When Pilots Eject was what did it for me tonight.
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