As I am currently a full time student I took the opportunity to attend the ULU student union in Malet St near Tottenham Court Road to check in on “Yak” who I haven’t seen for a few years.
Due to other commitments I arrived to see the last half of support” Egyptian Blue”. They are a bunch of young guys from Brighton, and got a bit of swagger and attitude to them. I heard about 3 or 4 songs and all well crafted and post punk inspired.
“Yak” came on about 9.30 after a five minute musical intro trying to build the tension. The first 20 minutes of the set was about attack and the audience was ready to respond. They played a long set and it was punctuated by what appeared to be slower numbers which didn’t have the feel for of the first album, which I thought was all killer no filler. But I guess that is the price of growing up and wanting to experiment in other directions.
They are a traditional rock and roll band in essence sounding a bit like a speeded up version of “Black Rebel Motor cycle club” on occasion. On other tracks such as “Bellyache “strands of “Kasabian” are interwoven with a more progressive sound. They have had their tribulations with finances etc. over the years which I think nearly signalled their complete demise but here they are off the back of supporting “Foals” on tour. They are operating in a crowded market and I just got the impression that the youthful enthusiasm of a few years ago has been replaced by a certain stoicism in the face of adversity and that they are now more of a journeyman band. Singer Oliver did tentatively crowd surf at about two thirds into the set. I’m sure he said it was the last song but they carried on playing for at least another thirty minutes.
I think they are on the cusp of releasing new material although they have also taken to social media recently saying this is the final tour and finish of the band. The atmosphere last night had perhaps tapped into this with a big crowd invasion toward the end with no attempt to remove people from the stage.
If that’s the case then probably no point suggesting looking out for them. There star has waned a bit in the last year or two and maybe they have taken all they need form this particular stage of their musical journey.
Wish them luck in the next stage of their journey.
fatwhiteoldblokes 