Friday 16/03/07 The Delta Fiasco, Komakino, goFASTER>> @ Korova, Liverpool

Lenny Henry? Paul O’Grady? Kate Thornton? Fearne Cotton? If seeing Liverpool’s best bands hadn’t forced Gigwise out of our hovel then Friday nights Comic Relief certainly did, and thank God we gave TV the wide berth.

First up tonight are goFASTER>> who are reviving the good old pop song as well as the eccentric use of punctuation. It would be easy to just mention the funny song names (‘Heather’s Loaded, Mcartney’s Blown It’ and ‘She Said She Worked On Hollyoaks, Turns Out She Works In Cheshire Oaks’) but behind the comedy are perfectly constructed pop songs that have a timeless sense of melody, fun and energy. Don’t bet against these guys following Hot Club De Paris and The Wombats to success.

Next up, Komakino, a band that kind of had it and has now pretty much lost it. It may be testament to The Delta Fiasco’s popularity but for a band who have released an album and played Leeds festival to be playing second fiddle to a band who have not yet released a single must be a touch humiliating. Not that they let it show tearing through their set with a keen sense of eagerness and visceral intent. Every song is blasted through at pace, thing is they sound a bit like a bad Placebo. A good Placebo is one thing but a bad one? Ouch. Lead singer Ryan Needham’s voice shares the same nasal twang as Brian Molko whilst his band bash out the same plodding tunes over and over. Even the usually brilliant ‘Say Something Else’ disappoints.

Much better however are The Delta Fiasco who more than justify their headline slot tonight. The small venue is packed out to see the band play and they do not disappoint opening with fans favourite ‘Stumbling Block’ and going on to enrapture the audience with their mix of pop noir and Electro party tunes. ‘Easy’ is a song seemingly purpose built for radio whilst ‘Uh-Oh’ has more catchy hooks than a fisherman’s rod. Managing to fit ten songs into a frantic and compact set The Deltas are on top of their game throughout. A much tighter unit since the arrival of drummer Simon Hilton the three piece sound is a glorious mix of keyboards, guitars and beats whilst Nathan Walczaks voice, perhaps the groups most unique possession, swoops and soars throughout- at times haunting at others a call to arms. The band even manage to fit in a couple of new songs, one of which begins with a MSTRKRFT style vocoder before exploding into the chorus of Candi Staton’s ‘You’ve Got The Love'. Ending the show with forthcoming single ‘Paperhouse’ The Delta Fiasco show why they are perhaps the most exciting band in Liverpool. Fast, frantic, angry and taut it swings and shakes before taking off into a massive chorus.

With the music, style, energy and performance levels in massive quantities it seems increasingly likely that 2007 will be the year that The Delta Fiasco make the step up from small shows like this up to much bigger stages. It’s merely a matter of time.