Kubla Khan – London 229

229

December 11th 2009

I always find 229 quite a strange venue; it has the potential to be great, but there are never any people there.  Still, there was a reasonable crowd watching support band The Brays. I got there just in time to see the Peterborough band do a song about Russell Brand called ‘My Libertine’ and finish up with ‘Golden Age.’ The latter sounded a bit like Elastica’s ‘Wake Up’ which was a bit of a throw back, but I had a fondness for Elastica back in the day, and overall I rather liked the Bray’s electro rock sound.

Kubla Khan got a lot of love from The Brays, and played a great set.  The funk rock band filled the stage – the nine-piece comprising singer Matt Heanes, a rhythm section and four-strong horn section.  I had quite high expectations for the live show, having heard some of their tracks recently.  The bassist having lights up the bass neck got them off on the right foot – I can’t help that I’m attracted to shiny things – and some great solos came in the way of sax and guitar.

New tracks, including ‘Small Town Preacher Man’ and ‘Karma Comes Around’, were included in the set and after a rather rigid start, Heanes started to relax into his performance.  Relatively new to the band, and hailing from the North East, he interacted quite well with the crowd throughout the gig, shouting an appreciative “Thank you!” after each track.  He sounded like a mix between Len from Strictly Come Dancing (think ‘SevEN!’) and Geordie Joe McElderry (‘thang-you, thang-you’), quite endearing, really.

I enjoyed watching Kubla Khan, but there was one thing that really got me about the show.  They have great songs, are obviously accomplished musicians and are really tight sounding.  Heanes has a great voice, but at times it was on the verge of being swallowed by the music.  For such a big voice (and such a big band), the general consensus amongst my friends was that the front man needed to be a front man.  Although Matt did visibly relax as the set moved on, it would have been great to see him move around the stage a bit more, own the space and have a bit more of a presence.

Still, Kubla Khan are obviously crowd pleasers, and after a half hour set, they finished with another new track ‘Set Me Off’ and left the stage amid chants for an encore from the crowd.

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