Issue 32 / April 2013

24 Bido Lito! April 2013
Reviews
The) Revelator, linger in the memory long past
the end of this unforgettable set.
Laurie Cheeseman / last.fm/
user/lacheesemaster
LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY
White Bicycles
Eric’s
WHITE BICYCLES are charged with getting
tonight off to a great start; the thirteen-piece
Liverpool band somehow squeeze onto Eric’s
stage and manage to get people’s feet tapping
with an eclectic blend of Latin, ska and west
coast pop. They are followed by a superb
dancehall, dub and reggae DJ set which gets
the place pumped up and manages to make a
concrete floor tremble with its thundering bass
to set the mood perfectly for the arrival of the
ground breaking LEE “SCRATCH” PERRY.
Perry has been described in thousands of
articles throughout his illustrious career, which
goes back all the way to the 1950s and includes
winning a Grammy. In every single article,
mountains of different superlatives are used,
and rightly so, to describe the original pioneer
of dub and reggae music. One further constant
throughout the thousands of words written are
the descriptors “crazy” and “mad”. And, as he
shimmies onto stage in a red onesie, a glittering
red baseball cap and a holiday wheelie travel
bag, you can see why. This is a man of 76. In a
onesie and with a seemingly pointless trolley
bag. If he was walking down Bold Street like
this, you’d be looking to call the local asylum
to see if any lunatics had escaped. But this is
exactly what the crowd at a chocker Eric’s have
come to see, the remarkable and quite unique
talent of Lee “Scratch” Perry.
Perry’s backing band, The Upsetters,
announce their arrival on stage with a rallying
Lee “Scratch” Perry (Matthew Thomas / @mattomica)
call of “can I get an irie” before launching into
to some funked-up reggae grooves. The MC then
builds up a frenzy and the cheers go up as Perry
toddles on. There are problems immediately
though as Perry starts to sing and his mic isn’t
working. He orders the music to be stopped
dead and demands a new mic. This takes an
uncomfortable ten minutes before we are back
on track with first song Panta Dub.
After the initial problems, the sound gets
increasingly better as Perry gets into the swing
of it with War Inna Babylon. In between each
number there is a bit of Perry preaching going
on as he repeatedly exhorts us all to “be perfect
like God.” Sometimes speaking in bizarre riddles
- “I conquer bad luck, I conquer unluck, I conquer
the chicken, I conquer the duck” - at one point
he declares, “eat your shit, drink up your piss,”
whilst balancing a bottle of water on his head.
Not many 76-year-olds can say that and hold an
audience in the palm of their hand. The rest of
the set plays out in a similarly eclectic fashion,
with superb deep dub and bizarre ramblings.
The classic Sun Is Shining unites everyone, and
Kaya gets the room moving whilst rounding off
the set in great fashion.
How long Perry will continue to tour is
unknown given his age, but I’d recommend you
catch him while you can. It is easy to describe a
musician as a legend, but for this bizarre nut-job
genius, the title is more than deserved.
Steven Aston / gigslutz.co.uk
EVERYTHING EVERYTHING
O2 Academy
Anticipation is high for Manchester quirk-pop
indie foursome EVERYTHING EVERYTHING, fresh
from releasing their sophomore album Arc. An eerie
guitar intro and hypnotic vocals open their set and
it’s a surprising choice: not their latest single or a
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