Barfly, 6th April

Strains of warm chorus-drenched melody emanated from The Blueskies, a Brighton-based quartet of sharply-dressed young gents. Their vocoder vocals were layered over each other innumerably, to the quality of an audio recording. “Nice echo!” muses singer Mike as his voice comes back to him. With only 60 people in various areas within this elongated venue, the Barfly’s publicity machine has obviously got one of its cogs caught on something. This gig should have been rammed.

The ice outside might not have thawed properly, but inside it was another story. Despite whispers that their live show left a lot to be desired, the entrance of vocalist Quentin Delafon from The Teenagers was met with applause. A rendition of ‘Love No’ sounded immaculate, with crisp barre chords and a New Order chorus, while ‘Feeling better’ found Quentin flashing the peace sign (and his dashing smile) to some hecklers.

Despite its misogyny (or irony, depending on your standpoint), their single ‘Homecoming’ sure is a lot of fun. The moustached Quentin urged two cherubic girls onstage, before realising his mistake – they were barely teenagers themselves. “They are too young in the light!” he laughed, realising the hilariously apt faux pas which he played off quite well. “You saved the song!” he said quietly to his band mates afterwards; maybe these two saved the evening?

Other songs hinted at the inexperience of a band formed “as a joke” on Myspace. While this French synth-pop band flourishes on record, but lose a great deal of lucidity in a live setting. With three people singing at once, their vocals often crossed over and failed to merge. Live, The Teenagers are stripped of their immediacy; it is plain to see that their record is enjoyed best over the speakers in a club or through headphones. At times they are merely bar karaoke but, nevertheless, there is a fair bit of hip shaking from the diminished Barfly.

Words by Matthew Harfield
Photos by Sam Hiscox