Hoosiers live at the Shepard's Bush Empire
I went to this show expecting something exciting, full of laughs and funny costumes. What I got was maybe a third of what I expected.
The stage setting was like nothing I’ve seen before. Disco balls, lampshades, giant chairs, wardrobe in corner and robots. The Hoosiers entrance however was built up to be something of a let down. The lights dimmed, the wardrobe lit up…and out they walked holding the letters of the band name. The tickets said “fancy dress preferred” so to meet expectations you would think the band would be in costume, as they have in many of their videos. Unfortunately, the only one who seemed to bother was their keyboardist; and the two back up singers/trumpet players dressed as skeletons. The entire band only dressed up for the last couple of songs. If I had been an avid fan and actually bothered to dress up I would have felt let down by this. The fans did however love it when three giant glitter filled balloons were released for their enjoyment.
As far as the music goes, the lads pushed out all the stops, playing tracks from their album. Of course there were the upbeat bouncy indie numbers such as ‘Trick To Life’, as well as the ones that were a little calmer like
‘Run Rabbit Run’ and ‘A Sadness Runs Through Him’. It was however the bouncier numbers that got the crowd moving, more specifically the singles they had previously release. First up was ‘Goodbye Mr. A’, followed by ‘Worse Case Scenario’ and towards the end ‘Worried About Ray’. The real hook came on for their next single ‘Cops And Robbers’. The chanting of “way to catch a criminal” got the whole place jumping and me terrified the balcony I was standing on was going to collapse.
The acoustic style to two of the tracks particularly interested me. ‘Money To Be Made’ which was great, and then there was ‘Trick To Life’. This one however was very unsettled. As Irwin began singing in an acoustic style, other members of the band were seen wandering back and forth on and off stage. This seemed very unnecessary and to me rather rude to Irwin’s song. Something special for the crowd was a Hoosier style rendition of Billy Joel's 'We Didn’t Start The Fire'. This was unfamiliar to some of the crowd but they still enjoyed it.
The Hoosiers unique brand of odd-indie pop is a breath of fresh air. They have some great and very unusual sounds, which are great on stage. Their image unfortunately seems more pronounced in their videos rather than on stage, which was the biggest disappointment.
Tracks to be taken notice of: -
'Goodbye Mr. A'
'Worried About Ray'
'Worse Case Scenario'