Facelift
Live at Joseph's Well on Wednesday, 5th December 2001
I came over to Josephs Well with good thoughts about both bands, Facelift and The Alpine Movement, as I had seen both before but through sub standard PA systems. So I was looking forward to seeing them both perform their material through an excellent system. However, when I got to the venue, I found out that Josephs Well hadn't booked another support band and there were only 2 bands on... but The Alpine Movement had cancelled at 6pm! Not an ideal start as they were supposed to be headlining the gig.
So Chris from Catylyst came down and played an acoustic set. Now, having never seen Catylyst before, I did not know what to expect. But I didn't expect him to possess such a powerful and melodic voice. Just the presence of him being on an acoustic guitar was awe inspiring, and if this is what he sounds like with his band, then I can't wait to see them live. His set was very melodic and very powerful, and you could hear clearly every word he sang. A track that stuck in my head from this set was "Fingers and Thumbs", because I went away singing the chorus from it. Fantastic.
Up next were the headliners, Facelift. They came in with a very tight entry, and by this you could tell that this would be a good set. The classic 5-piece band: 2 overdriven/distorted guitars creating a wall of sound. A touch of early Britpop was clearly evident in their music, also drawing influences from more rock avenues too. The singer had a broken foot so he couldn't strut his stuff as much as usual, using a wooden stick as a walking aid, which was thrown behind him mid-song, hitting the drummer on the head with it! I think he has a touch of arrogance, both in his singing and his overall performance on stage, which he commands and makes his own. He has a very powerful voice, which suits the style well. My only criticism though is I thought he occasionally shouted the vocals rather than sung them. The songs that Facelift produce were at times, very good and there were a couple of tracks in there that stood out. The band was very tight and played very well as a unit. A very good set.