Reviews

Over the past few months the L'Ancresse Bay Hotel, or 'The Lodge' as it has become affectionately known, has become something of a mecca for Guernsey's younger and heavier bands.

Tonight however a slightly more varied line up of music was on offer at the first 'Live at the Lodge' event, subtitled 'Pudsey's L'Ancresse Adventure' and raising money for Children in Need.

While the line up was more varied than usual it still all fell very much in the area of guitar music and the night started out with young punks Beetlejuice.

However by the set's end they were up to their usual antics as they massacred Pantera classic 'Walk' and treated us to a drum and bass only version of their song '**** The BBC', the irony of which didn't seem to register with them or the audience given the fact they were helping raise money for a BBC endorsed charity.

While they didn't get the crowd reaction they necessarily deserve, probably due to the more varied nature of those in attendance, compared to the audiences they usually play to. Beetlejuice once again proved themselves to be one of Guernsey's last remaining bastions of the true punk spirit.

This was all appreciated by the by now large but still slightly distant audience who mostly kept to the shadows at the back of the hall. This changed however as the band began their encore of Metallica's 'Seek and Destroy' which brought a good number of the younger audience members to the front for some old school head banging action and set the stage perfectly for what was to come next…

…And that was Guernsey's premier, and admittedly only, Iron Maiden tribute act, The Iron Babies.

As this was going on a small but hard hitting mosh pit had started in the middle of the dance floor while a group with more vintage notions lined the front of the stage head banging and shouting their hearts out.

Despite a few more technical problems, including a broken snare drum and the PA system nearly being sent flying, The Iron Babies put on a great show, which provided great fun entertainment for any Iron Maiden fan.

In the past, while displaying very able musicianship, this band has never struck me as having that certain indefinable presence that makes a band truly great. Tonight however, especially in the second half of their set, following a scintillating run through Oasis' 'Live Forever', they suddenly seemed to click and brought the large group of people, obviously there specifically to see this band, to life.

This culminated in a cover of Kaiser Chiefs' 'I Predict A Riot' to which Stratosfear seemed to add a new life missing from the original. The crowd reacted to this by starting the biggest pit of the night while several of the young ladies in attendance escaped the pit by getting on stage and dancing with the band.

Following this the audience continued to call for more and were treated to two! First came a storming cover of The Who’s ‘My Generation’ followed by classic reggae/ska number ‘I Fought The Law’. Tonight the already popular Stratosfear seemed to reach something of a watermark moment in their performances which, with some more originals under their belts could really see them become something quite special to Guernsey’s music scene.

Playing more of their punkier numbers tonight, Thee Jenerators displayed a true versatility of style which took them from punk rock through psychobilly to rock 'n' roll. While tonight's set may have been the sloppiest and most shambolic I have ever seen Thee Jenerators they seemed to harness the energy they had and still translate it into a fantastically entertaining performance.

All five bands tonight did some great things but it was undeniably Stratosfear's night as they really seemed to reach a new peak in their performance, which hopefully will continue to grow in the future. And of course tonight wasn't just about the music as £460 was raised for Children in Need as well.