Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
Lee Fisher enjoys a rapturously received show from Beta Band
Image by Callum Robinson/Boiler Shop
People of a certain age have always got a little misty-eyed when Beta Band come up in conversation, and some of them throw a retrospective whitey when they remember that night in the student halls with the hot knives. So their reformation last year after more than twenty years away was greeted with joy, surprise and a rush to the ticket agencies. And now they’ve returned to Newcastle.
The last and only time I saw them was Glastonbury 2000 and I’m not sure who was a bigger shambles, them or me. But I put it down to one of us having an off night and looked forward to seeing a non-shambolic version at the Boiler Shop. But it seems Beta Band don’t really do non-shambolic, which I guess is part of their charm. They kicked off with Inner Meet Me and the cheers were louder than the band. In fact, it took a few songs for the sound to settle down properly, and it was only on the beautiful, uplifting, anthemic Push It Out – their finest five minutes, for me – that the sound came together. The Three EPs material dominated, as you’d expect, and we got most of those songs and a mere handful from their other albums. The shambolic was back for Needles In My Eyes and Dog’s Got A Bone, with its Barret-era Floyd music box intro, Dr Baker properly took off, ending with a glorious psych freakout. Meanwhile the crowd were loving every minute (even the Stone Island geezers who’d picked up some pub dust on the way and proceeded to talk through the whole set). And the band seemed genuinely pleased to be there, and to be back in Newcastle. There were some incredible moments across their two hour set – Dry The Rain was glorious, and The House Song was a reminder of how dance music played a big part in their musical DNA, ending with the whole band drumming up a storm – but for me, some songs never really came together and the sound didn’t do them any favours. So while I couldn’t quite figure out the rapturous response from friends afterwards, there were moments of genuine greatness and it was a pretty good time.
