A meme question thingy popped up on Twitter earlier this week asking “which acts have you seen more than once?”. Well, courtesy of her opening slot for All Time Low back in January, Taylor Acorn was about to make my version of that fairly long list one performer longer.
Prior to her appearance in front of the sold-out Slay crowd, though, were Wilt from Los Angeles. Their first time in the UK, though not their first touring with this particular headliner elsewhere, they fit in nicely with an appropriate-for-the-evening alt/pop-punk sound and attitude.
Singer Chelsea Rifkin has one hell of a voice, and bounces around the stage like someone born to be there. Credit also to one of the guitarists who covered backing vocals and was also really good. Thankfully the sound in the venue did them justice.
I’m fairly unfamiliar with their music, but they were given forty minutes to impress us and I think they did a pretty good job. In amongst songs like their debut single “Gwen” and popular track “Bite My Tongue” was a particularly well-done version of t.A.T.u’s 2002 classic “All The Things She Said” that had the crowd (at least some of those around me) singing along.
Chatting to them afterwards, it seems like plans are afoot for a return to our isles in the not-too-distant future. Keep in touch, Wilt, we’ll be glad to see you again!
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Over the last couple of years, I’d really been wanting to catch Taylor Acorn live, but hadn’t quite managed it. And then, as mentioned earlier, I catch her twice within a couple of months. Her opening slot at The Hydro was a nice warm-up. Definitely not long enough, but impressive to see a “small” artist treat the huge stage as if she owned it. Tonight, Acorn and her two bandmates were crammed into a somewhat tighter space but were no less impressive.
The set ran for over an hour, largely focussed on her most recent release Poster Child (review here), with fully half the set being new material. Some of the songs had made it into singles, some had not, but all were well received by the audience. I’d probably pick out “Goodbye, Good Riddance” (the first single), the more recent “Hangman” and “Cheap Dopamine” – largely as they are closer in tone to her older material. But then she goes and tugs on the heartstrings with a song like “Home Videos” which has now become one of my favourites.
Tracks from Certified Depressant probably had the biggest crowd reaction in terms of lyric knowledge, and I still believe that “I Think I’m In Love” is the best song ever written about falling for someone, certainly the most accurate!
Throughout the show we didn’t just have a natural entertainer singing (and occasionally strumming on guitar) for us, there was the madcap typhoon that is Ricky Jab on guitars. I’m amazed he hasn’t brained Taylor at any of the shows yet, the amount of time he spends rotating like a spinning top on speed. He’s so mental, he could even teach Janick Gers a thing or two, and that’s saying something. I’m assuming that this is why Jack didn’t get any photos of him (that and there being a packed sold-out crowd and no photo pit to move in!) at the Leeds gig… Jab just doesn’t stay still long enough!
For all the pop-punkier songs, the main set closed with the beautiful “Birds Still Sing” during which I saw two people next to me wrap their arms round each other and move with the music. I’m guessing this song had some kind of special meaning for them, and it was a lovely thing to witness.
We finished with standalone single “Shapeshifting” and, perhaps obviously, the stress-relieving rant that is “Psycho”. Honestly, the only thing that could have improved the night would have been “Everything Sucks” being on the setlist as well. Full marks, too, to Ms Acorn for not only engaging well with the audience but actually understanding most of what was said to her. You’d be amazed how many bands (Jaret Reddick… I’m looking at you) still can’t understand a Glasgow accent despite having been here enough times!
This was a great night. A lovely audience, top-notch musicians and some really good songs that deserve to be heard by as big an audience as possible.
Pics by Jack Barker Photography from the Leeds show
