“Home crowd. No pressure then.”
John Bramwell really had nothing to fear as I Am Kloot delivered a two-hour set stuffed with favourites to a packed-out Apollo.
The gig brought the year to an end for the three-piece which saw them release Let It All In back in January as a follow up their Mercury-nominated 2012 album Sky At Night.
Bramwell, drummer Andy Hargreaves and bassists Peter Jobson were joined by a keyboard player and two multi-instrumentalists as they sped through openers The Moon Is a Blind Eye, These Days Are Mine and Northern Skies.
Sat at the front of the stage hunched over his bass Jobson added menace to 86 TV’s as the band put on their best Oxford Road strut to Bullets and One Man Brawl.
They ran through three songs from Let It All In which demonstrated the continuing problem I Am Kloot face as they attempt to leave their cult status behind as the energy that had been built up was lost as they returned to their entertaining but downbeat status quo.
The pace slowed even further and took a more intimate turn with Bramwell left on his own to perform solo with the rapt audience lapping up his delivery.
When the three reunited on stage they began to find their groove working their way through the distinctly Mancunian Morning Rain and a rollicking version of Someone Like You – a definite highlight of the show.
Hargreaves’ understated drumming guided them throughout the gig and as the band returned to their older material he showed his true versatility with the sticks.
Jobson’s solid bass propelled them through Dark Star before they took it up a notch for a thumping Life in a Day which all too briefly brought extra life into the crowd.
But again Kloot returned to a low-key song letting the momentum escape before a sing-a-long version of fan-favourite Proof faded out to calls for more as they left the stage.
A four-song encore began with two from their 2001 album Natural History with the gloriously ambiguous Twist played to the great delight of the audience as well as the brooding From Your Favourite Sky with Bramwell once again stealing the limelight.
For the finale Bramwell introduced Guy Garvey, Elbow singer and one of the producers of the last two I Am Kloot albums, to cheers as they joined forces to round out an enjoyable but slightly underwhelming evening with To You.
Picture courtesy of alterna2 via Flickr, with thanks
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