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Review: 'URBAN VOODOO MACHINE, THE'
'Live at Islington O2 Academy'   


-  Genre: 'Rock' -  Release Date: '27th September 2014'

Our Rating:
This show was part of The Urban Voodoo Machine's Love Drink & Death Tour that has played at no less than 6 different O2 Academy venues around the (still) United Kingdom. It also marks the return to the live stage for Brother Nick Marsh who has recently recovered from Throat and mouth cancer.

If you'd like to see his other band, Flesh For Lulu, tour the USA again there is still just about time to pledge atFlesh Fir Lulu Pledge campaign.

But being a Saturday night it was also a rather early show which meant we had to battle our way through the football fans leaving the North London Derby on our way to the show and managed to miss the support act entirely: no surprise when the headline act go on at 8.30pm after a great set by DJ Scratchy.

Still, the Islington Academy was fairly busy by the time the Urban Voodoo Machine paraded through the venue; starting the march to the stage upstairs. While the Godfather Theme was playing, they moved slowly through the audience and onto the stage led by the Late J Roni Moe and once the gang was all here they launched into the instrumental intro that had some stops and starts to it and carefully timed moves and then it was down to business with a great full on version of Cheers For The Tears that got everybody going.

Train Wreck Blues had a lot more balls than the album version and was grittier than some of the previous versions I've heard by The Dalston Devil Trio among others. Indeed, Joe Le Tropics washboard antics were a highlight on this tune. The full on theatrics of Not With You (as twisted a break up song as you could want) really needed the trumpet blasts from Lloyd Gomez-de-ville that almost act like the last post for a doomed relationship.

Before they played the recent single Pipe & Slippers Man, Paul-Ronney Angel made us practise the call and response bits of the chorus which seemed a bit out of character and a bit too showbiz coming from the UVM. But it was a small quibble once the song got going and everyone joined in on this most unlikely of songs which also saw some great guitar bits from Nick Marsh who looked far better than he has recently.

They then dipped into the back catalogue for Orphans Lament. It featured Lady Ane Angel's sousaphone and was as close to an oompah band as they get but with the normal gypsy blues twist to it. They paid tribute to the late lamented Crazy Maria next and it was as wild as her reputation was with Luci Fire vamping it up on Sax. Drinking My Life Away could also have been about Crazy Maria and Paul-Ronney had to re-assure us his bottle contained something other than water, as if he'd drink that muck!

Your Hour Of Darkness was a little brighter live than it is on the new album and saw them getting us all swaying in time with the music to give it a bit of a vaudeville edge. Goodnight My Dear kept things on the slightly downbeat side lyrically even if the antics never stopped behind Jary and J Roni Moe's twin kit and some very professor Longhair-style piano from Slim.

Help Me Jesus was as close to a rave up as a plea for help from Jesus could get and almost everyone in the audience sang along to it. They closed the set with Goodbye To Another Year which as this week we said goodbye to 5774 was perfect for all the Jewish fans in the audience but might have seemed a bit out of place for everyone else.

Of course they got called back for an encore and Paul-Ronney tried to get everyone to be quiet for the start of Loretta's Revenge but didn't quite succeed so that the first couple of minutes were spoiled by the background chatter as slowly the band came back out and joined in so that about two thirds of the way through the song we had the full band back onstage.

They then played a storming version of Killer Sound that broke down and went off in several different directions - often at once - before finishing with a rousing run through the chorus. They closed the show with the classic Love Song 666 that really only left us wanting more of the classics to go along with all the new songs. That said they are still easily one of the best live bands around and should be seen whenever you get the chance.
  author: simonovitch

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