This Is The Kit Show Why Seeing Them Live Is A Must
Published
My first memories of seeing 'This Is The Kit' live are of standing in a circus style tent at the wonderful Shambala festival. A few songs into the band's pop infused folk-rock set the power cuts dead, the lights black out and the sound fades drearily away to silence. A shhhhh sweeps through the audience followed by the sounds of a whistling Kate Stables, who is the founder of the band, who played acoustically, serenading us with the audience added in claps, singing along creating a magical atmosphere.
This was a moment to remember and the moment when I really fell in love with the Kate Stables led band. When I saw that 'This is the Kit' were playing in London and that the release of their third album 'Bashed out' was just around the corner on the 6th April I jumped at the chance to see how this performance at a venue would compare to a welly wearing gig in a field and I hoped to be wowed with some of that same musical magical sparkle.
The band are known for playing in small 300-350 capacity venues and The 100 Club on Oxford Street in London is no exception with it's capacity being a relatively intimate 350 people. Having not been there before, the layout seemed slightly awkward, it being a long rectangular space with the stage positioned side with a few chairs and round tables on either side of it.
Tonight these tables were redundant with few people sitting at them due to the fact that their view would be blocked by those standing in front. Without a doubt the space, appropriate in size for this band, could have been used more wisely with the layout either needing to be all standing or all seated; it appeared a bit mismatched, neither one thing nor another. The sound however, from where I was standing sounded pretty clear; vocals were crisp and drums not too overpowering but their presence heard.
Rozi Plain, a long time friend and collaborator of Kate Stables and a London based singer songwriter, opened the night with her band in support and set the tone of the evening. Kate actually sang backing vocals, in return, the two paired up as a duo to open 'This is the Kit''s set with a powerful and what seemed like a half improvised acappella section. This hushed the crowd, instantly gaining our attention and then the rest of the band were introduced.
What made the set really flow was the variety in configurations from Kate performing a solo, to a duo, building up to the full five piece band. The full effect of all the instruments created an almost psychedelia moment. In addition, there was plenty of audience participation from the mass sing along of the well known 'Earthquake' to Stables asking us to sing one of the key notes in 'Moon'.
A select few tracks from the new album were played, including 'Silver John', 'Nits' and the recently released title track 'Bashed out', giving the audience just enough of a taster to make them hungry for the rest.
The night was brought to a close with Kate solely returning to the stage to give us an encore of two tracks. There were requests for various songs hinted from the crowd and she happily played both 'Two Wooden Spoons' and 'One of these socks' on her banjo which was a nice little added bonus to round off the night as for the most part the banjo has been shunned from the live sets being replaced by electric guitar resulting in that psychedelia feel.
Overall it was a lovely night with soothing sounds throughout. 'This Is The Kit''s new album will be one to be on the look out for in April and if you get a chance to see them live then do, as there is a certain magic that can only be captured when you are there, with quirky improvisations and spontaneous moments which really are the icing on top of this musical cake.
To find out more about This Is The Kit click here.
To visit This Is The Kit's Facebook page click here.
Words by Poppy Jones
