This gig was put together by Tommy from Big Play Promotions who invited us along to do our first review. Tommy has links with Access To Music and is also drummer with Bristol Rock band Facial.

It was interesting chatting with Tommy to hear first hand what’s involved in putting something like this together, from booking the venue, getting the acts together, promoting the gig and the all-important bit about trying to end up with some money to pay everybody.

The back room at The Croft is smaller than we expected, with the stage and sound engineer’s station taking up about a third of the floor space. If you got 100 people in there it would be packed. It’s also the first venue we’ve been to which fills up from the back, so the later you arrive, the closer you end up to the stage. It’s a good size stage for such a small space as well, with some impressive speakers and monitors.

The reason people were staying back became pretty obvious when the first band started – that sound system kicks ass. If you got too close to the stage it could get painful. The sound quality is excellent though – someone who knows what they’re doing has invested time and money in that setup.

The Sarah Malpass Trio were first up. We can certainly see the potential in the band, and Sarah’s got good songwriting abilities, with lyrics expressing the pain of failed relationships and disappointments based on what sound like some real experiences.

Having 'Trio' in the band name is a feature usually reserved for the jazz circuit, so it’s maybe a bit confusing for a rock band. Also if you add any members in the future, the name would have to change, which is not something you want to do with what is essentially a brand image.

It’s always hard performing as a three-piece, as the sound can be a bit thin. Sarah certainly has a good voice, but she’s a rhythm guitarist, not a lead. Jay and Barney were spot on with the timings, but as a whole the group needs to work harder to fill in the spaces. They could really do with adding a lead guitar or keyboard, some backing vocals and maybe fatten up the bass sound a bit.

Overall, we thought one to watch for the future as they develop the sound and line-up.

Second up were The Decoys. They look the part and cranked out a strong 11-song set of basic rock songs, delivered with emotion and honesty, pretty much as described in their online profile. We also liked the way they were developing their on-stage performance and interaction with the audience, which may have rubbed off from Sam’s involvement in the Rob Stone Band. The great man himself was there in the audience to cheer them on.

The choice of ‘The Truth Hurts’ as the single was a bit of a surprise, as ‘Don’t Fight It’ got by far the best crowd response. They’ve got a potential rock anthem going with ‘Not Good Enough’, with ‘Get Out’ as a killer finale.

For us, Malago were the revelation of the night and we can see now why they’re so popular. Malago as a live act are a different proposition altogether from what you might expect from just their recorded material, with a clean, tight sound that comes from a band that has worked together for a while, and achieved that ability to think and feel as a single unit. The music was more driven and the sound had a noticeably harder edge that was not captured on their studio work.

First up in the 7-song set was the Malago trademark song ‘Worth It’ from their second album, and the delivery live put a whole new meaning and intensity into the lyrics. Followed up with ‘She’s My Angel’ and ‘You’re not As Good As You Think You Are’ from their first release. ‘Nobody’s Angel’ showed that they can write a great ballad, and the set was rounded off with ‘Blush’ and the storming ‘What’s Wrong Daisy’.

Sean is a superb frontman and really interacts well with the audience, slowly building everything up, with a bit of pathos and humour thrown in as he pleaded poverty because everyone is downloading Malago songs for free. It was obvious he was having fun, and he coped well when something that looked important dropped off his guitar near the end of the set.

By the end of the evening we were Malago converts and joined in the screams for an encore, but, sadly, the time was up.

Thanks to Sam and Liam from The Decoys, Sean from Malago and Rob Stone for taking time out to chat to us at the end of the evening.

Congratulations must also go to Tommy and Big Play Promotions for putting together such a great line-up – and it’s only his second gig as a promoter!

Kev & Chris@Bristolbands.com