I Am Kloot Live @ Electric Ballroom, London 07/05/2015
After over 15 years of activity, I Am Kloot are still going and will be touring northern Europe and mostly the UK for the next couple of months. Yesterday, John Bramwell, Peter Jobson and Andy Hargreaves played a sold out gig at the legendary Electric Ballroom in Camden, of which the setlist consisted mostly of their first 3 albums. The band arrived on Aaron Copland's very intimidating and imposing 'The Open Prairie Again' from the Billy The Kid ballet, before getting on with One Man Brawl.
Singer John Bramwell greeted the audience for the first time just before their third song, Life In A Day; which got people to waddle a little. Bramwell then introduced the following song by telling the audience about the first time he listened to it: “I put it in me car just driving on, listening to myself… and it finished, and I pulled over and I just thought… It’s fuckin’ brilliant”!! This was the first of a long series of jokes that would put the crowd into a joyful mood throughout the whole gig.
He then traded his electric guitar for an acoustic one - which he used up until the end of the gig - before treating the fans to a rather folky version of Gods and Monsters, devoid of the chilling original arrangements. The band operated an emotional roller-coaster, pursuing with The Same Deep Water As Me that plunged the audience into a melancholic state, before bringing back joy with the Bossa Nova sonorities of Dead Men’s Cigarettes, sung in the first person singular for a change.
After performing Masquerade - the only song from their most recent album Let It All In - the band left John Bramwell to play the acoustic song Astray, followed by another solo acoustic version of At The Sea. Jobs and Hargreaves got back on stage and carried on with Fingerprints, followed by a faster version of Over My Shoulder to shake up the crowd!
The band took us back for a trip down melancholy lane with the utterly mesmerizing To The Brink, which is one of the two songs Bramwell introduced as being about “drinking and disaster”. The second one will be the following Storm Warning which preceeded another beauty, Here For The World. After a couple more songs, the band thanked the fans to whom they dedicated the song To You, putting forward John Bramwell's manifest vocal skills.
The band closed their set on the well acclaimed From Your Favourite Sky, before coming back for two songs: Twist and Proof, which both got the entire venue singing in chorus and offering a goosebump ending. Overall, the band’s very unique musical register might prevent them from ever becoming big; however, their talent and that same uniqueness guarantees I Am Kloot is here to stay.
Tracklist:
10. Astray (John Bramwell solo)
11. At The Sea (John Bramwell acoustic solo)
Encore:
