Topman CTRL made its debut in York last night, and what a debut it was! York may be one of the country’s most ancient cities but there was nothing old about the line up: Controllers the Mystery Jets had picked a line up of cutting edge sounds ranging from the best in new British songwriting to explosive dancefloor material.
The venue for all this was Fibbers, a classic old venue that’s recently been given a fresh coat of paint for 2010 bringing it bang up to date. With all the flashing CTRL boxes, lights and signs in place it looked incredible and ready for the action that was about to unfold. After a few last-minute M1 hold-ups and a soundcheck that ran right down to the wire doors were open. Just twenty minutes later Tribes were on stage, a seriously promising five piece with shades of 90s US grunge paired up with classic 70s British rock influences and other good stuff.
By the time they had finished the sold out show was almost at capacity, standing room only. Make that dancing room because as they played their last chords The Count and Sinden jumped straight on the decks and full speed into a high energy set that included their new material, classics like ‘Beeper’ and their own solo remixes of the likes of Amy Winehouse. The shiny new dancefloor was being given a serious workout, it looked more like Ibiza than winter in York.
Haunting strings and a spoken word intro heralded the arrival of the main event, time for Mystery Jets. We’ve had some cracking sets over the years on CTRL but this was amongst the very best. The boys exploded onto the stage in a riot of guitars, synths and vocal harmonies and didn’t let up for an hour. They played new ones like ‘Serotonin’ and a generous handful of classics.
The cherry on top was a performance of ‘After Dark’ with The Count and Sinden on stage, only the second time they’ve ever performed together. The crowd were the real stars thorughout though: crowdsurfing, pogoing, moshing you name it they were doing it.
It’s clear that after an amazing year and a month long tour the Mystery Jets are a band on the very best form and they brought it all to CTRL. Next stop Liverpool for Futureheads and Frankie festive fun.
Check out all the photos from the event and tag yourself in the crowd at www.facebook.com/topmanctrl
Good stuff as per usual, thanks. I do hope this kind of thing gets more exposure.
Posted by: suprayouth | 07/12/2011 at 11:28 PM