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The Isle of Wight has musically come a long way since Mark King, with his happy slappy high playing bass, led Level 42 across the Solent to bring such floor fillers as ‘Lessons In Love’ and ‘Running In The Family’ to the ears of mainland England…I shit you not. Not only can it lay claim to a legendary annual festival and the Bee’s, it can now add Jackson Analogue to its CV. A tight, loud, unadulterated five piece who know how to do one thing and one thing only…to play good old-fashioned rock music. Rob Holmes’ distinctive yet comfortably familiar vocals allude to so many influences it would be rude to compare him to anybody. His voice gives JA a powerful confidence that is constantly backed up by vigorous controlled drumming and the unperturbed cool of brother Jim on lead guitar.
This collective self-belief is soon shared by the unfortunately small crowd through ‘White Dress’, ‘His Red Hand’ and ‘Buffalo’, complete with Hammond Organ ‘Live And Let Die’ lick…honest. The organ is used well throughout and adds to JA’s intensity, as if they need it. Unlike the proverbial one that got away, this crowd are well and truly hooked and treated to the forthcoming single ‘Stop’, an unadulterated stomp through JA’s hard-hitting world, all the while backed up by a relentless and dutiful bass. The evening culminates with the sheer show stopping ‘Janis’ that once again leaves the faithful crowd eating out of their hands. The sound is big but the egos aren’t and the unassuming Jackson Analogue finish the annoyingly short 25-minute set mission accomplished.
Fresh from supporting the Arctic Monkeys and due to support fellow Deltasonic signings The Zutons; The Little Flames make the stage look crowded as the band clamber and fight for space around the solitary unmoving demure nonchalance of lead singer Eva Petersen. True to expectations they waste no time in establishing a stage presence that would make even Alex Turner jealous and launch into a tight and frenzied repertoire of whipped up scratchy guitars and punk riffs polished of with the simple yet effective and addictive voice of one said Ms. Petersen. There’s a definite whiff of young anti establishment angst in here tonight that culminates in something maybe akin to an English bar brawl with the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s…or something like that. Whatever it is, it works.
‘Goodbye Little Rose’, ‘The Lengths You Go To’ and ‘Skinny Bones’ fill the floor with genuine fans doing their best at impersonating epileptic fits and leave guitarist’s Miles Kane and Matt Gregory doing their best to keep up. It’s an energetic performance through and through and TLF are clearly enjoying themselves (with a cheeky nod here and little smile there) as much as their adoring audience. ‘Put Your Dukes Up John’ is one of the best of a very tight set that proves that British music didn’t die with The Libertines and that there’s more to England than Sheffield.
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