Bombay Bicycle Club at Mercury Prize Sessions

Inside the renowned Hospital Club in Covent Garden, yesterday Wednesday 26^th March the Barclaycard Mercury Prize hosted a remarkable three-act live set. The opportunity to see Drenge, Broken Bells and Bombay Bicycle Club in the same evening was not to be missed, and The Upcoming was there to enjoy it. 

Drenge were the best act of the evening. The two brothers from Derbyshire are the next big thing of the English-post-grunge scene and on stage are utterly stunning, surprisingly educated and very noisy (which is always good!). Taking inspiration from US bands like Slint, The White Stripes, The Black Keys, and Nirvana (yes, Nirvana too), they played for 40 minutes and the set included Fuckabout, Dogmeat and Bloodsports. Live, the band emphasise their grunge credentials by turning up the volume of the guitar and the drum to the max – very appreciated.

Broken Bells need no formal introduction, Danger Mouse and James Mercer are names in their own right in the music business: the former as a producer (for U2, Gnarls Barkley, David Lynch and Sparklehorse) and the latter as the singer from The Shins. Together they have released two great records (Broken Bells and After the Disco). Their music is like a sci-fi soundtrack of a western movie, where robots are acting instead of humans and it cleverly mixes references from the 60s. 

 

The last band of the night were Bombay Bicycle Club. Having released this year the critically acclaimed So Long, See You Tomorrow, they played mainly songs from it: Luna, Carry Me, Feel among others. Their sound is a warm Britpop with influences from world music, Talking Heads and Vampire Weekend. Mixing up Britpop, reggae, dub, African sounds and middle eastern music is a clever and smart idea, especially when, as in this case, the result is also remarkable.

Lorenzo Cibrario

For further information about the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Drenge’s Fuckabout here: