Local Artist Profile: Little Comets

Little Comets, you must at least heard off them, lately they have been taking off massively. I guess after they supported Electric Six it all started for these Newcastle boys. Their current single, “One Night In October”, a proper dance tune gets played on MTV2 and all over the radio. On their upcoming tour they have got a Newcastle date, but you might be lucky to catch them at a houseparty.

Text and image by Solveig Werner

General Fiasco @ The Union 23rd October

The average age of the people attending this gig must have been the 14 year-old girl. Okay I know that “girl” is not something that defines an age group, but in a way it does. Well there were a couple of middle-aged women present (a surprising number). I believe that was mostly thanks to the main act One Night Only. Well Little Comets are a very nice eye candy as well.
The first band to take the stage was Newcastle’s own Little Comets. Finally I got to see them again, it had been a while since I last went to one of their gigs. Well they have progressed positively since before the summer. They did rock the floorboards, loads of people were dancing, jumping around and a couple singing along (including my friend Marzy and me). These Comets are different from other bands, they experiment in a musical style which is not necessarily a defined genre, they have an amazing stage presents, helped a lot by their good looks.
Then it was General Fiasco’s turn, they are supporting One Night Only on the whole tour. I am struggling a bit when it comes to describing the way that they sound (hence my being very late with this review). There is a bit of a garage rock sound to them with the lyrics having a strong foothold in the Irish accent. They too had a lot of energy to woo the crowd, but there was less communication between them and those attending the gig. Interesting about them is going to see where they will be in a couple of months from now.

Review by Solveig Werner

Mystery Jets @ The Cluny 19/04/08

If someone says ‘Mystery Jets’ I say “Arrrggggghhhhhghghgh!!!!!” - this is a good reaction, by the way. I can safely say I had been looking forward to this gig for exactly a million years. One of my favourite bands in one of my favourite venues: YUM. And yummy it was, this mouth-watering evening started off with a nibbler from local lady Beth Jeans Houghton, think Regina Spektor with a dash of Laura Marling - delish. Dished up next were Little Comets, without expecting too much, these boys did more than pleasantly surprise; they blew my frickin’ socks off. Filled to the brim with scrummy, poppy, chantey, dance-y goodness; I wanted to order seconds.After appetisers like these I was greedy for more, Mystery Jets were my main course and desert rolled into one neat, tasty set. From the sweet depths of their older tracks such as ‘Diamonds in the Dark’, to the juicy highlights of upcoming single ‘Two Doors Down’ they delighted and charmed the 350 capacity room. Having heard that previously the band invited a crowd member onstage to sing Laura Marling’s part in ‘Young Love’, I was slightly disappointed when Blaine sang the part himself and I was unable to display my amazing vocal talent! (Cough cough). As with most over 18 gigs the crowd were slightly reluctant to ‘jam out’, but with a ‘Zoo Time’ encore even the coolest of cucumbers couldn’t resist to burn a few musical calories.

Review by Marzena Dabrowska (photos by Solveig Werner)