9

Second Band of the Evening...

Obscure Pleasures was one of the more "suggestive" bands on this tour. As they took to the stage - singer, guitarist and bassist - there was no doubt the crowd were unprepared for what their set was to entail.

The West Bromwich trio began the set with an electro beat, some rock out guitars and a psychedelic vocal contributed by Joshua White. Although at the start the vocal shared no emotion, this all changed as the lads broke into their third performance of the night. This particular track had Joshua screaming the track's title Hate at the top of his vocal capability at several points, really putting across some emotion. The following few songs after this began to grow on you and the crowd began to show a little more appreciation for the band's sound. Their set became seductive and able to draw in the crowd, hypnotizing them with their compelling music, a sound similar to that of William Control. However, the trance was broken within the last two numbers.

A female friend was invited on stage to erotically dance about and drape herself over the band, not sing as originally expected. As she gradually began wasting a bottle of JD over her semi-naked body, the crowd participation ceased for a while with shock and unexpected bewilderment. Although their music became somewhat entrancing, this demonstration of dance was off putting and lost some respect from the crowd labeling this performance sleazy and cheap; which it became. The band made a critical error in judgment in having this woman prance about topless on stage as it took attention away from the actual band performance.

Ignoring the horrendous concluding songs to this set, the remainder of the performance was enthralling with Obscure Pleasures certainly making a name for themselves as a band to watch out for.