PAPA SHANGO/LAZY APOLLO//JEHENNA
Musician Pub 16th November 2024
Late night at The Musician Pub last night with 3 different bands...
Up first was a fairly young band, Jehenna. A hard rocking 5-piece alternate metal band... playing alternative metal music, predominantly original material. Strong performance which really rocked... a few rough edges maybe, but thats no problem here and continued gigging will iron it out in no time. Thoroughly enjoyed the set, and its great to see younger bands really playing this music... great start to the evening.
After a short break we had LAZY APOLLO... sad to say I really didn't enjoy this.. i found the music plodding and ponderous and very samey... a shame, the band worked hard to deliver, but sadly they also outstayed their welcome... cue Andy having to tell them time to finish. This band not at all for me.
Then after this... a look around the room... The Papettes are bouncing around ready to go... the band were revving up... time to forget all you know about rock'n'roll shows and say goodbye to normality... the lunatics have taken over the venue and the unique, outrageous and thoroughly wonderful Papa Shango are back in town for another set of madcap mayhem and rock music...
It's the usual set, though from memory, maybe in a different sequence... all the classics were there along with all classic antics...
As the band started there was a bang and a thick cloud of confetti filled the air... and as the band rocked the Papettes were shooting water pistols over everyone in range... quite early in the set came "Danger Wank" with all the appropriate (inappropriate?) gestures...
Trying to forget the visual mayhem for a moment, it is easy to overlook the fact that this is really great rock band, two guitars, bass, drums and flute, powering away in great style and the audience bopping along throughout... and with the musicians prowling and bouncing through the audience. Papa Shango prowls growling lyrics and making random comments while the Papettes sing out the always hilarious lyrics in great style...
We got "Looking Down the BarrelL (of a biscuit jar)" while the Papettes visited the audience distributing biscuits... (thoroughly enjoyed the Jammy Dodger!!). Papa Shango continued delivering the "Looking down the Barrel" hook line well into the next number...
I know at least one member of the audience thoroughly loved the "Love Sponge" as the the whole bunch of them took their sponges to the audience... also loved the sequence and the cream squirted into the mouth during "Master Baker"
"9 Dart Finish" as ever saw an audience member dragooned into wearing a a dart board while Shango demonstrated his prowess with the arrows.
Towards the end they also delivered "Robot Love Machine" with the band slowly winding down and having to be re-started!.. and then the "Papa Papa Shango" song.
It is impossible to summarize this band... this show... you really have to see them live to believe it... they are a really fine band
and the overall show is simply breathtaking... the whole lot of them are barking mad and, as a friend said, they've emptied the asylums for this lot!... You rarely spend a rock gig boogie-ing and laughing in equal measure... Shango gigs are a tonic for everyone... they should be prescribed by the NHS!!
Sadly this was the last performance of this particular set... partly because it has been around some 20 odd years, and partly because Drummer Barry is sick of having to restart the band in "Robot Love Machine" by wanking off the drummer.... but happily they will be back next year with a new set and a host of new mayhem... i'll miss this fabulous set but am confident the new set will be every bit as good....huge thanks to Rob and the whole band for the most uplifting and enjoyable hour or so you can spend around live music... absolutely superb!!
To see Shango is to love them...
Truly fantastic performance... from start to finish
keep music live... keep music real... support your local venues...
Keep the mayhem coming!!
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