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Concerts I've seen

Sumo Cyco	The Craufurd Arms
Eville	10th July 2026
Bright Black
Mercy Falls
I didn't arrive at the venue in time to catch the first band, so Bright Black were my opening band of the night. They were the reason I'd come to the show. In a rare example of targetted advertising actually working, I'd seen a Facebook ad for them and quite liked what they sounded like. Since they were playing locally, I thought I'd go along and see how they were. Which turned out to be pretty decent. They had to play the first song and a half without a bass player. Technical problems meant there was no bass sound, and he didn't have a lead on stage to try the basic "just plug the bass straight into the amp". I've ranted about that before, but I just can't understand that level of unpreparedness. But that aside, they played a solid set of melodic metal with some occasional harsh edges and I enjoyed the performance, even if they didn't really do much to stand out. I'll see them again if they're playing locally. Eville didn't get off to the best start. Although they're a three piece with a drummer, bassist and singer/guitarist, the first song had no guitar and she was just singing along to the drums and bass. And when I say singing, she was mixing rapping with out of tune clean singing. I don't like rapping at the best of times, but when it's done in a southern English middle class accent, it just doesn't work. She was trying to sound edgy, but it just came across as fake. Musically not for me and a performance that I felt was lacking. I'd seen Sumo Cyco a few years ago when they were touring with Devilskin. Compared to the two openers, they quite noticeably took the professionalism up a notch, being musically tight and putting on a strong performance. The only problem (as with the previous time I'd seen them) was that it wasn't entirely to my tastes. A bit too much punk and alternative and not enough rock and metal.