What a Heart can Contain

Last night a DJ saved my life. Not really. Last night I went to see Amber Arcades, as has been the theme this year with gigs for me I knew nothing about the band, saw it recommended on Facebook and it didn't know anyone who was going. I'm a winner!

Womaby Street on a Thursday night in March was bustling. Metal heads from Fuel (who've been handed a noise abaitment order, for shame) rubbed elbows with hipsters and ageing indie kids (me). It's such a vibrant tiny patch of Cardiff it's heartbreaking to think it's under threat.

I got to Clwb Ifor earlish as I wanted to see Tender Prey who were supporting. Tender Prey area Cardiff band/singer who get better every time I see them. The band were dressed in matching PJs - which I think they were last time I saw them at Swn -and very good were they too. I particularly enjoyed the guitarist Pete Townsend style meltdown at the end of the set. Oooo, he's gonna feel that in the morning. 

I had listened up to Amber Arcades before the gig, so I sorta knew what to expect. I knew that like Tender Prey the name was a stage name for a singer, in this case Annelotte de Graaf, a Dutch singer. Since I bought the ticket I've noticed she's been all over 6Music, so I sort of knew what to expect. The band are on tour with Granddaddy, but chose to spend their night off playing Clwb Ifor. Larvely. As ever with gigs the music had a harder edge live than the stuff I'd heard. They reminded me of a slightly more upbeat, energetic version of the Cardigans.

It was also nice to see the band not bother with a fake encore. "You don't really want us to pretend to go off just to come back on again and play the songs we were going to do anyway do you?" and so they actually played an extra song than they intended, well that's what they said anyway.

I went over to The Moon to congratulate Gary Twisted on winning the Cardiff Music Award for Best club night, but there was a baseball capped beardo singer/songwriter playing. I would have stuck around but it was a school night and I was knackered.

It was a wonderful LoFi night in a back street in Cardiff, an important backstreet in Cardiff. I couldn't have have been anywhere else, and neither would I have wanted to have been.