Blood Red Shoes, Sugarettes @ Ekko

Opening band The Sugarettes had a bit of an Belgian indie thing going on. They reminded me of Sonic Youth or the Pixies if those bands had come from Antwerp.


The Sugarettes


I had heard that the shows of Blood Red Shoes at the London Calling festival in Amsterdam and the Noorderslag festival in Groningen had been really great. I wasn't the only one, the venue was completely sold out. Although their debut album is yet to come out, they have a lot of hype going.



Usually the bands getting hyped in the English music press tend to disappoint me, sounding all the same, this time the hype is deserved. It was a great show. Both the band and the audience gave it all. Blood Red Shoes seemed genuinely surprised about the enthousiastic response. Drummer Steven Ansell as so fired up he stagedived into the crowd at the end of the gig.

They're a duo so the White Stripes comparison is obvious, but Death From Above 1979 is a better match. There's no Meg White in this band: both these kids know how to play, and they know how to groove. Danceable, grungy indie rock at it's finest. If these kids don't make it big, I don't know shit.