Reviews

The Pop Group at The Anson Rooms in Bristol gig review

Posted on: 2014-10-26

Having listened to the band before, I had neatly shelved them with other cliché post-punk bands who were perhaps unfairly overshadowed by the more commercial success of bands such as Echo And The Bunnymen and Television.

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The Pop Group played a somewhat dismal set at Bristol University's Anson Rooms last week, the evening redeemed only by several smaller factors.

As ticket-holders trickled into the room, two men producing some old-school dubplate reggae were serving as a sort of pre-support-support. Their sound was chilled and funky, although a little clinical, and seemed to get most people in a dancing mood.

After this short set, local support band Talisman took to the stage, again touting their dub/reggae wares for the enthusiastic crowd. It was a pleasant enough set, the first two songs infinitely more exciting than what followed, and a relatively decent cover of The Bigger They Come... which everybody seemed to enjoy especially those on stage...

The Pop Group did eventually come on at about 9:30, stomping across the stage with an assertive confidence that was met well with whoops from the expectant audience.

Having listened to the band before, I had neatly shelved them with other cliché post-punk bands who were perhaps unfairly overshadowed by the more commercial success of bands such as Echo And The Bunnymen and Television. I was expecting, therefore, little deviation from their older recorded sound, what with most post-punkers positively gagging at the thought of vocal enhancements.

However, the performance witnessed last week was one of severely underwhelming significance. Although the band themselves played well enough, the vocals were completely off - which is saying something for a band whose vocal concept revolves around gruff shouting. To my uninitiated eyes, to watch The Pop Group on that stage was to watch as someone's tipsy middle-aged father at a wedding party, beer in hand, gives the wedding band a bit of hassle until they agree to let him do some ill-advised karaoke. It was, for want of a better word, embarrassing.

Appreciating, as I quite often do, bands whose very aesthetic rests on the fact that the musicality isn't particularly the point, this still fell short for me. Although there was some weak socio-political comment within the lyrics, most of it was unfounded, unintelligent and, for the most part, unintelligible. And thus the terrible vocal performance is not excuseable.

It must be noted, however, that although a few like-minded people shuffled to the back and wore their finest 'unimpressed' expressions, the majority of the audience seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves. Whether this is because I and those few others are hopelessly ignorant of The Pop Group's attitude (or lack thereof) to performing live, or that the others were just determined to have a good time swimming in nostalgia and hazy memories, I do not know. But as ever, audience reception is significant, and it should be asserted that for many, this was an enjoyable night.

My own thoughts on the issue of The Pop Group making a comeback is simply: don't. The night was cringy, disappointing and alongside the band's overall shoddiness, the sound desk mixing was questionable. A mediocre performance at best, although The Pop Group did give their fans a proper reunion of classic old songs and seemingly, although confusingly, a good time.

2/5

Reviewed by Miri Teixeira for 365Bristol

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