Whilst a room attached to a town hall doesn't immediately
look like it lends itself to being a venue for a rock gig, Islington’s Assembly
Hall gave the event a sophisticated atmosphere.
Opening up the proceedings were Barbe-Q-Barbies, a Finnish
all-girl rock band. This seemed like an odd choice in comparison to the other
two acts- playing more straight-up rock and roll with a mixture of punk and
glam thrown in for good measure. Their set was fast paced and full of energy,
with no frills attached. 
When Haken took to the stage with their complex and highly
involved music, the atmosphere became more serious. With their faces set in concentration, it was still plain to see that
they were revelling in their constantly evolving and changing music. The music,
which took ideas of progressive rock and metal music, with the added element of
instrumental Jazzy, circus-metal breakdowns, during which the singer- following
on the tradition of Jazz musicians- left the stage to allow the
instrumentalists to have the full glare of the spotlight. The band’s high level
of musicianship was shown by their use of more unusual guitars- 7 strings and 8
strings, along with a 6 string bass, which added to the texture and range of
the music. Debuting a new track which went down well with the audience, the
constantly changing time signatures still ensuring that people trying to keep
up with the music were kept on their toes.
The Van Hortzen Brothers’ set took in many tracks from their
latest album, Nine Lives as well as
tracks from their earlier releases. Live, the Von Hertzen Brother’s showed that
intelligent music does not have to be flashy or ostentatious, which allowed
them greater freedom of movement on-stage, whilst still playing intricate parts
and taking full use of the vocal harmonies which are part of their trademark
sound. Highlights of the set included an electric performance of the lead
single from Nine Lives, ‘Flowers and
Rust’, which proved to the audience that underneath the intricate and exciting
effects played on an old fashioned Moog synthesiser, The Von Hertzen Brothers are
still most certainly a rock and roll band.
(All photos Nick Webb, 2013)
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