For Folk's Sake » Babe Shadow

Live: Babe Shadow @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

For Folk's Sake — Mon, 17 May 2010 22:30:00 +0000

As I stood amongst the growing crowd in the opulent and massively-sized Hammersmith Apollo watching Babe Shadow take to the stage, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe about the place. Would The Babe Shadow, a small band from Kent, fit in within these walls? The crowd looked on curiousl:, they were an odd mix of middle-aged couples, shaven-headed geezers and young leather jacket-clad students.

The band launched confidently into their first song, with wonderful catchy guitar plucking, over sensitive drums that erupted as the song grew bigger. Lead singer Tom Cawte has a great and very unique-sounding voice, which at times filled the room spectacularly. I overheard an entertained audience member comparing them to the lights of Vampire Weekend,which is no bad thing. Though I would agree that the band share some similarities with Vampire Weekend, they are clearly doing their own thing and there is an inspiring uniqueness to their songs. Their last song, Sea Serpents, truly stood out. It’s a fabulous piece of musical creation, and was executed splendidly by the band. It went down brilliantly with the audience which had doubled by this point; the band exited the stage showered in whoops and cheers I even heard one fan on the balcony shouting for an encore.

I think this is definitely a band to watch. They are next playing at The Macbeth, London on the 19^th May for their Ep launch party

Words: Jenny Dowdell

Eliza Doolittle live and Mumford & Sons DJ at River Rat Pack gig: FREE guestlist for FFS readers

Lynn Roberts — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:54:31 +0000

The River Rat Pack – who take barge-fulls of musicians on canal-based tours playing free gigs along the way – are offering FFS readers free guestlist to their Easter Sunday all-day gig at The Paradise in Kensal Green in London.

Eliza Doolittle, Babe Shadow and Nat Jenkins will be playing live, and there’ll be a DJ set from a little-known band called ‘Mumford and Sons’.

The River Rat Pack are quite the talent-spotters, having played host to Mumford and Sons, Jay Jay PIstolet and Josh Weller among others.

To get your hands on a free guestlist pass for the show, just email ally@thecolumbogroup.com before Friday. It’s not even a competition, they’re just that generous.

Surprise visit from Morrissey at She Keeps Bees album launch

Lynn Roberts — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:53:26 +0000

She Keeps Bees, Babe Shadow and the Dufflefolks had a bit of a surprise last night when miserablist legend Morrissey turned up to their gig at The Old Queen’s Head.

Speaking to FFS, Dufflefolks guitarist and bassist Louis said: “He arrived halfway through Babe Shadow’s set. He sat in the corner while people fawned over him.”

The gig — which FFS previewed here — was held to launch She Keeps Bees excellent new album Nests (listen) and was run by promoters Oh Inverted World, who are named after a Shins album and therefore brill by definition.

Organiser James Hawkins told FFS: “We were absolutely thrilled to to have Morrissey along last night, it’s great that he’s still up for coming to see the little guys and caused quite a stir by turning up.

“Jessica Larrabee of SKB’s was particularly excited to get to play to him, and it all added to a really buzzing night with a packed out crowd and a constant queue of people outside the venue throughout the night. these parties are starting to get a bit out of hand!”

Oh, Inverted World has been quite a hit with tabloid stars. Mischa Barton and Luke Pritchard of Kooks fame have also been to shows. Who would James like to see next? “Dylan would be nice!”

The Duffles, who’ve been having a lot of industry interest recently, managed to get Morrissey to raise an uncharacteristic smile. Louis said: “We gave him our CD. We tried to give it to his manager but she said no, so we went to talk to him and said we’d leave it on his table and he could use it as a coaster. Then we saw him prop it up on the table and he took it home with him.”

Words: Lynn Roberts

See our guest blog by Louis from The Dufflefolks for more about the show.

For Folk's Sake » Babe Shadow

Live: Babe Shadow @ Hammersmith Apollo, London

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