Rawkstar.net

Tat / The Draft & The Bouncing Souls

The Cockpit on 13th February 2007
Reviewed by HelenB on 17th February 2007

Tat

This three piece punk rock band seriously impressed me from the start. The incredibly charismatic female lead singer and guitarist was so good, that she made me want to pick up a guitar and learn how to play it properly. At one point she played the guitar behind her head, and the performance was completely flawless, at least to a relatively untrained ear anyway (that would be me). She also did some gyrating with the guitar, which i imagine impressed the men in the audience, if not the girls as well.

The best songs they played were 'I Don't Wanna' and the amazingly catchy 'Champagne, Cocaine and Strawberries', which seems to have been popular with most people there, judging by the amount of girls in the toilet queue that were singing it.

Rating: 6/10
Website: www.myspace.com/tat

The Draft

If i'm completely honest, i thought these guys were pretty bland in terms of the music they played. It all seemed quite samey, and i had no issue with parting from the performance briefly in order that i could go and obtain a drink.

To be fair though, the lead singer was pretty amusing, with his random grunts into the microphone between songs, and the fact he was quite clearly wasted. They did seem to have quite a few fans in the audience, as i noticed a number of people singing along, so it seems my opinion of the music wasn't shared by everyone there.

Rating: 4/10
Website: www.thedraftband.com

The Bouncing Souls

These guys were the headliners, and they were definitely the best band of the night. It's amazing how youthful and energetic they came across, considering they've been together for a good twenty years now. The frontman Greg Attonito was literally bouncing around the stage and was clearly not restricted by his years.

The Bouncing Souls were fully at one with the audience and the interaction with the crowd was constant throughout the night. They had a lighthearted approach to pretty much everything they were faced with on the night, such as the crowdsurfers and people randomly climbing onto the stage. One girl who did this claimed it was her birthday, and they therefore kindly offered to play her anything she requested. Unfortunately though, she requested 'true believers' which they had already played. This didn't stop them from playing the intro for her again though.

There was a lot of bouncing going on all round, and the moshpit got progressively larger as the night went on. At one point, me and my friend had to jump onto a side stage, as we thought we were in danger of being trodden on.

Rating: 8/10
Website: www.bouncingsouls.com

All in all, it was a good night, with Bouncing Souls getting everyone jumping along, well, all except this miserable girl who was standing behind me, who clearly thought standing completely still and giving evils to all who were moving, was the proper way to thoroughly enjoy the gig.

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