The GO! Team - Cambridge - 25/02/08

Written by Ellie Clarke | Thursday, March 6, 2008 |

Cambridge was one of the lucky cities to have The Go! Team grace their presence disco balls and all, during their short UK tour. They don’t tour often, but they certainly are memorable.

Micra Girls, a spunky, Finnish threesome, were quite an unworthy warm up for this gig. Their 30 minute set consisted of little more than actual help-I’m-being-tortured type screaming, hurting your ears more than a gig normally would (but not in such a good way) and the sharp keyboard notes, although played well, didn’t exactly compliment this. Neither did the lack of charisma. At best this band had a few fun songs but overall represented a pitiable version of the 5,6,7,8s.

The Go! Team flooded the stage with energy, bright lights, balloons, scissor jumps and sass right from the word “Go!” Ninja shimmied onstage adorned in her token knee high socks while the rest of the band clambered to their instruments including Ian Parton the main songwriter who waltzed proudly to his pedestal of a drum kit. The madness began and straight away the whole room was dancing in every style imaginable; well, I too would struggle to fit The Go! Team into a particular dance category.

It’s this uniqueness that sets the Brighton based band above the rest and why this gig was so much fun. There were some obvious favourites for the crowd including “ladyflash”, for which no one knew the words but happily sung along regardless, and recent hits such as “grip like a vice” and “doing it right” which went down well in the encore. Every member of the band (all six of em) threw every ounce of energy they had into each song and at times this spirit wouldn’t even require the music as they jumped around in between songs as well.

Because no gig is perfect (which is often a result of varying personal taste), this show wasn’t without its flaws. Ninja is a powerful force, yet onstage she almost blended into the background. Her vocals are influential and dominant in recordings but hearing the music overcome those lyrics was a bit disappointing. Also, unfortunately towards the end of the gig I couldn’t help but feel that most of their songs were similar. Personally, I feel diversity is important for a decent set.

Despite all this The Go! Team performed complicated music with professional, energetic, excitable ease. They filled the venue with dancers and joined in the party themselves. They’re dance moves are commendable in themselves to be honest. I want to see them again now…

• The Maccabees @ Cambridge Junction
• The Holloways & The Wombats @ The Junction

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