Mark Barrage opened the night and warmed the crowd, shuffling his way amiably between his two noise-making gadgets making chipper, jerky electro-hip-pop.
Lawrence Arabia will try to fool you with their earnest looking jeans and tees, tousled hair and particularly confectionate four-part "ooh ooh ooohing" and "aah aah aaahing" and harmonies galore. But they aren't really all that sweet and innocent; they've like, y'know, done "it". And a fair few times at that I'd say. Head singer-songwriter James Milne certainly isn't one of those melancholically wistful, longing observers of life and love; he's been right in the thick of it and isn't shy to sing about it. Whether the chanting chorus of "Making love, making love, making love" or the cheeky honesty of 'The Beautiful Young Crew's "We love each other, we hate each other, we're afraid of each other, because we want to screw each other", it was all a bit saucy really, and brilliantly entertaining.
High Places were a sharp looking boy-and-girl coupling that conjured sounds from an overly-strained desk brimming with electronic trinkets. There was a prominent cruisy steel drum sound that was reminiscent of a Sunday market, and a bounding beat, banged out on electric drum pads, that kept things bouncing along.
Beaches shimmied in with their four guitars and five fringes and just set the Factory floor alight with their big sludgy riffs and strings afire. Just ace, and a perfect loosener for the crowd about to enjoy the experience that is seeing Dan Deacon.
You don't just passively observe a Dan Deacon show - you are right thick in the middle of it. Taking the traditional focus away from the stage, Deacon rolled out his music making gear into the middle of the floor and had the audience surround him. His console resembled a 'red light special' trolley, but instead of the red light proffering short-lasting bargains, it was topped with a strobing, glowing skull of awesomeness that flashed out in time with the crazy beats.
The crowd couldn't just stand idly by and enjoy the music - no-siree, we were variously ordered to blindly bounce about the room with our arms out, pass on our positivity through the heads of nearby strangers and even form a tunnel through which the whole crowd and Deacon himself would dance until it extended right through the venue and up out to Oxford Street. It was less a show, more an all-encompassing interactive live experience, and was fantastically fun.
All in all, Summer Tones was a cracking night of fun and frivolity, giving a warm, wistful kiss-off to the season.
Andy Ryan
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