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Rock City, Nottingham - September 2002
It's the first night of Rock City's rebranded Saturday 'alternative' night, now renamed Distortion after their annual punk-fest at Wollaton Park. In reality, little seems to have changed - the club, the music and the crowd all seem exactly the same as on my last visit, other than the influx of new students and glammed-up Rachel Stamp fans. There's plenty of time to check out both lots of irregulars as - somewhat annoyingly - the venue doors are still firmly shut at 8.55, despite Girls on Top being due on stage at 9pm. Thankfully, doors eventually are opened and the gathered masses make their way into the basement room where Rachel Stamp will be playing for the second time in just a few months. After this delayed entry, things become even more surreal when it turns out that the bar has yet to be stocked. Had the management somehow forgotten that the club was opening tonight, I wonder, as I join the rapidly expanding huddle at the bar, waiting in vain for a supply of booze to be delivered. However, Rock City's schedule clearly doesn't allow for bands to dawdle, even if this is an all-nighter, and a mere fifteen minutes after the first of the waiting crowd had begun to make their way through the doors, Girls on Top are on stage. I reluctantly leave the bar - which is at least right next to the stage, meaning I could eventually order an admirably cheap pint without actually missing anything - and resign myself to gasping through the band's opening numbers.
Girls on Top are a band born to play live. Looking like a bunch of dirty, trashy punk girls (and their male mate), GOT camp it up wildly and have a great sense of the theatrical which you can't help but enjoy, particularly as it's all so damned cheesy. Giving birth to a mutant sprog in Monsta Baby might sound like a ludicrous moment of Spinal Tap madness, but when the foetus is pulled from a Tesco carrier bag and stuffed up singer Vicki De Vice's dress before the number starts - in full view of the audience - it's clear that this is not meant to be taken overly seriously. The fact that said foetus is then paraded through the admirably expanding crowd simply adds to the fun.
If Girls on Top are a revelation to a crowd who are clearly unfamiliar with them (I suspect this may be their first gig in Nottingham), Rachel Stamp are still fresh in the memory, and this proves to be a bit of a problem - at least for this reviewer. Not being a particular fan (I'd never even heard their output prior to the last gig) I was remarkably impressed, not just by the music but also by frontman David Ryder-Prangley's stage presence and crowd banter. And that was strangely missing this time round. Between-song commentary was virtually non-existent, and although the quality of the performance couldn't be faulted, it seemed somewhat contrived in comparison to a few months earlier, where the gig had felt like a fun, personal experience shared by band and audience.
Interestingly, I found myself chatting to Rachel Stamp's former web guru who had come up from London to attend - it seemed - the whole tour, and who informed me that there was no specific set list this time around - each gig was tailored individually according to votes from fans on the web site and the mood of the band. Tonight, apparently, saw the first airing of Worm live on this tour. So some spontaneity was in evidence - and to be fair, had I not seem the band before, I'm sure I would have been very impressed with the gig. But I know they can do so much better.
DAVID FLINT - noise-online.com