Thanks to orders from above, 8Ball find themselves playing their highest profile gig to date in a slightly unorthodox, acoustic form. Gone are the turntables, electric guitars and beats, and in come chairs, acoustics and a generally more laid back vibe. Although robbing them of the former does dull their unique edge a little, it does allow the sunny nature of their songs to shine through, especially on forthcoming single ‘Strange Boy’, which offers further proof that they just might be the missing link between The Thrills and The Jimmy Cake.
Simple Kid too is playing it simple. While we might have hoped for the appearance of a full band set, he ventures onto stage with just a laptop and guitar for company. Despite his obvious ready wit and good natured banter, he’s an oddly faceless performer; his features lost beneath a mass of hair and oversized cowboy hat. The opening solo set stutters badly. Accompanied only by the laptop’s tinny beats, he rushes through ‘Average Man’ and others, each song collapsing rather than finishing. A double tracked cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Hurt’ is awful, only making it half way through before the singer knocks it on the head.
Things improve when Simple Kid is joined by a couple of other musicians and the promise of the debut album starts to be realised. The sound fills out and the audience begin to find the groove in the likes of ‘Drugs’ and ‘Hello’. He’s still capable of shooting himself in the foot though – a point rammed home when he follows the rousing ‘Truck On’ with some utterly pointless noodling around on the drum machine. Sure we love our mavericks, but we do have to be careful that the joke isn’t on us.