9 years on from the last time Come and The Dream Syndicate played on successive nights at Dingwalls in Camden and Come walked away clear winners of that "East coast west coast" showdown we have a re-match, only this time Come are playing at Cafe Oto and The Dream Syndicate are playing at Lafayette, also this time around most of The Dream Syndicate have shown up to see how high the bar Come sets is.
But before we get down to that business it's time for me to see Witching Waves playing as Witching Waves, as previously I saw them play a show as Solution Hours opening for Eureka California and Suggested Friends at Sound Savers studios in Homerton where Mark Jasper the bands Guitarist and back up singer worked at the time, before the band de-camped from Homerton to a farm in Devon.
I also reviewed the bands excellent second album Crystal Cafe that came out in America on the ever-excellent Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records who will hopefully also put out the bands third album, several of whose songs were given a live premier at this show. The bands line-up remains the same with Emma Wigham playing drums and singing lead vocals with Ed Shellard on Bass and Mark Jasper on guitar and vocals.
I'll be guessing the titles as they opened with I Let It Go that's played good and fast and sounding totally focused as if they have been doing a lot of rehearsing. You Got The Best of Me has a subtle groove as Mark's guitar does all sorts of stuff to fire it off.
Lie About It was introduced as being from the bands first album while Mark told us how honored he was to be playing at Cafe Oto where he used to work a few years ago. I Feel Good On The Outside had some heart felt lyrics and an imperious bassline that worked well against Emma's vocals.
Open Your Heart was introduced as being about becoming parents and was a rather sweet song that was sung acoustically. Not A Choice You Make sounded almost like the bands lockdown anthem as they hope to be able to do what they want as the guitar clattered against the pin sharp drumming.
It's A Shame is a current sentiment for all sorts of wrongs in our world this had a fantastically propulsive beat to it. I Don't Miss It could easily be about them leaving London but by this point they had most of the audience with them and was quite celebratory. They closed a cool set with Every Time that had a brilliantly out their guitar solo in it. I hope to see them again in the near future.
After the break a sold-out Cafe Oto welcomed Come back to London for the last night of the bands current European tour. As ever Come are Thalia Zedek Guitar and vocals, Chris Brokaw guitar, Sean O'Brien bass and Arthur Johnson on drums.
From the opening seconds out, round one, sounds of Bell they sounded super tight, as intense as they've ever sounded, Thalia just wrenching every last bit of emotion out of the lyrics. It was stranger hearing Finish Line this early in the set, but it was magical hearing what Chris was doing on his guitar and how it dovetailed with what Thalia was doing.
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All the poison and bile within the lyrics of Dead Molly worked to make this sound even more intense and brooding. Recidivist took us back to the summer of 1961 as this dark tale unfolded against Arthurs careful drum onslaught that punctuated the lyrics Chris was singing perfectly, Arthur needed to adjust his seat afterwards almost like it needed strengthening to continue at this level.
Hurricane blew through Cafe Oto in a blur of frenetic guitars, a steady as they come bassline from Sean. It was far too warm to feel a chill during Mercury Falls. It didn't sound like anyone had made any mistakes during Last Mistake and they all seemed very happy to here playing for an adoring audience once more.
Fast Piss blues was as usual a highlight of the set, Thalia really took things up a notch vocally on this, it was just so intensely blistering. I wish my notes for William were a bit clearer as there was nothing opaque about the forceful nature of this performance.
It was unclear what the Wrong Side was in Cafe Oto, especially as this built to its crescendo to take our worries away. SVK kept up the pace and intensity as they built the set towards the climactic end that Submerge gave them, as this favorite just let us know what happened to poor Natalie once more as the guitar made her pain clear. They left or tried to leave the stage to a huge ovation.
They were soon back for a well-earned encore that opened with In/Out that was as sexy as they got all evening as Thalia sang about that love connection. They then finished things off by looking for a Brand New Vein something that some of the locals could certainly do with, it felt like a perfect shot in the arm to finish a great and super intense set. I hope they keep there promise to come and tour Europe and the Uk again in 2023.
Come had done more than enough to win this showdown a second time, but you'll need to read my Dream Syndicate review for the result.
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