Bubble Live @ The Alex, Lancaster (UK)

Place yourself in the dingiest shithole mankind could have created and you have The Alex. Unfortunately, the PA System/Sound technician didn’t live up to scratch and I am quite frankly surprised Bubble didn’t up and pack on arrival.

Let me set the scene …. THE ROOM – tiny, dark, damp …. THE BEER – crap, extortionate in price …. THE TOILETS – (my gawd, dare I say) broken toilet seats, lack of loo roll, floor ready to cave in, waterlogged (by the way, I heard the blokes were worse) …. INHOUSE ENTERTAINMENT – (not the bands) ermmmmmm yeah, I’m sure you can imagine. There’s a limit to how many times you can play Fasterpussycats’ version of ‘You’re so Vain’ before it gets annoying and you kill the DJ. Can you tell how much I loved this venue, aren’t you just dying to play there?!!!! So anyways, onto what matters the most: -

NUTRAJETS (Florida, USA) – The pathetic attempt of the sound technician turned the Nutrajets set into one solid mass of disturbing Mindfuck. To be honest, the sound quality was of such a shoddy job it would have been impossible to review the Nutrajets at this particular venue. Alas, do not despair; I travelled to the gig at Bradford Rios the evening after to get my fill. Wowzers … you want a word THAT is it. Nutrajets own an unmistakeable talent, which streams through every blood vessel. It takes concentration and a half for a front man to play lead, let alone have his guitar rigged in a way that it plays bass too. An impressionable two-piece, with the sound of an outstanding four-piece sure as hell gets my vote, and to top the whole outfit … imagine the front man looking like David Bowie in the early years … HOT and there is no kidding on that score.

BUBBLE (California, USA) – Bubble, Bubble toil and …. Trouble?!?! There was a delicate atmosphere running riot in the minds of Bubble (only delicate), and who can blame them, the entirety had been quashed by the useless twats who called themselves sound technicians. Shall we just say, I’m glad I’m human and not drum skin.

To say the sound quality was by far poor and certain temperatures rose slightly off the Richter scale, the night was electric and by far superior to the day after at Bradford Rios. Bubble pieced together a delight and sparkle that very few bands dare attempt, which soared the room at a head dizzy speed. I’ve found over the years, ‘live’ gigs can turn two ways, they either enrapture your soul, lifting you to a height you’d be petrified to look down from or they basically shit so bad you’d prefer to be at that specified height to be free from the smell. So where do Bubble fit? If I said their studio CD (‘How ‘bout This’ for those who haven’t ordered their copy YET) enraptures your soul you’d be expecting their live set to falter slightly, WRONG!!!! I used to abseil down cliff faces, I am by no means afraid of heights but even I shat myself when I saw how high I’d floated. Rolled into one sentence …. Bubble = a touch of tantalised obsession coated in jalapeno peppers and definitely good enough to eat.

by Spice D. Warlock

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