Kula Shaker Manchester 02 Ritz 16.02.2016

Kula Shaker Manchester 02 Ritz 16.02.2016

 

Well,Well look who's back anyone who remembers the 90's will remember a band from London, with frontman male guitarist vocalist 'Crispian Mills' who's related to actress 'Hayley Mills' he's her son and his grandfather was the late 'Sir John Mills' I'm talking of course of 'Kula Shaker'.

 

Bursting onto the scene in 1996 with debut single 'Grateful When You're Dead' and the much more indian flavoured influence of 'Tattva' they hit the charts with Debut album 'K'following it up later with a second album "Peasants Pigs and Astronauts" after that they went relatively quiet whilst 'Crispian' formed 'The Jeevas' in the mid 2000's era.

 

So I'm expecting big things tonight perhaps the odd 'Sitar' player on stage, support tonight is from 'Black Casino & The Ghost' I think they are from Eastern Europe, a female fronted band the singer of keyboards has bright orange/red hair they sound 90s influenced indie pop but with more than a nod to 'Florence & The Machine' in vocal style, the age range of the audience is  the most varied I've seen at a gig no kids in sight at least no 14 year olds  no crowdsurfers yet, but this is a different style of music so I'm not expecting that type of fan tonight, theres no one barging in as the support act leave the stage in fact its all pretty relaxed, 4 sticks of incense are put either side of the stage to add to the atmosphere, perhaps a bit too much that I'm almost suffocaited by the strongly scented waft of smoke under my nose.

 

The band walk  onto the stage and kick things of with the anthem 'Sound Of Drums', 'Crispians' energy from the start is overwhelming he's like a teenager in his first band and you can feel his energy, he's Jumping about Crouching and waving his guitar aloft , the crowd are pogoing about already,and punching the air, they play b side 'Gokula' from 'Govinda', then a step back in time with the debut 'Grateful When You're Dead' which then goes into 'Jerry Was Here' a cracking album track that trails on with 'Karma' and  sounds of 'Indian Infusion' as is their sound on K' very Indian influenced based around the culture.and then onto another K' track 'Temple Of Everlasting Light'.

 

Of course the Tour is not just a celebration of K' its also about their new album 'K20' and so there were a few songs I didn't know as I'd not yet heard the new material, Pre- encore was a bit special we got a roaring Hammond stormer version of 'Hush'  there was a nod to 'Manchester in ther set in the form of 'Hallelujah' by the 'Happy Mondays' the latter 'Hush' of course which was originally done by 'Deep Purple', next treat was 'Hey Dude' they finally played my fav ever song though at the end 'Govinda' it was an extended version of the original even better live, so there were no sitars  on stage but it didn't matter it was awesome it was great to finally see them play live as I'd double booked in March 2008 and went to see 'Linkin Park'  instead on their 'Minutes To Midnight Tour' which was absolutely the right decision at the time as it was spectacular.

 

Finally getting to see 'Kula Shaker' was great for me because after 20 years of first buying K' it was as expected Pure Class!!!

 

Peace & Out Music Lovers

LMi  

 

xoxo