Gig Report: Nizlopi

Date: Monday 15 October, 8.00pm
Venue: Night and Day Cafe (Northern Quarter)
Face Value: £10.00
Support Act: Jimmy Davis
Gig buddy: Phil, of course

A new venue for us - the Night and Day Cafe on Oldham Street provides mild excitement for me as it will also be the setting for a performance by Sia next month. It's in an area of town we don't frequent so often only because we can't be bothered walking this far and are still exploring the city's offerings closer to our doorstep. It's a rainy Monday night and on account of a rather large weekend, I gladly offer to drive to this one - I'm definitely not ready to get back on the sauce so soon. Night and Day turns out to be a small(ish) dark, bohemian bar full of main-stream alternative types (dreadlocks and clean shoes for example) but the natives are friendly enough so we join a table and settle in for the support act. Enter Jimmy Davis - a Mike Skinner (The Streets) sound-a-like. Or rap-a-like. That aside, his lyrics are passionate, delivered well and rhyme (hey - I never said I was a massive fan of this style of music). After a brief break, Nizlopi enter the room. That's right - not the stage, the room. They've decided to go beyond a simple 'Hi we're Nizlopi and we're pleased to be here' and have brought their guitar and double bass into the audience to generate even more enthusiasm. Sans microphone, Luke Concannon (vocals, guitar) and John Parker (double bass) kick off their performance with gusto, inviting everyone to get closer. The pair eventually make their way onto stage and give a very spirited performance, songs largely from their album (Half These Songs Are About You), a couple of new ones and a brilliant cover of 'Kiss'. Towards the end, a second adventure in the audience for a couple of tunes before returning to the stage, some audience participation and a final song. Encore of course is the only track to make the charts, 'JCB' but it's enough to leave everyone on a total high.
Overall: Nice sound - super strong vocals, loads of passion (mostly about climate change) and an act that really cares that the audience are enjoying the show. Oh and the venue is fantastic!

Rating: 3 environmentally friendly guitars. Why not 4? Sound and lighting slightly disappointing - not really the band's fault, and some guy (presumably with the band/record company) snapping away like his life depended on it - very very distracting. A couple of pictures, sure, but this was relentless. OK, fine. 3 and a half environmentally rocking guitars. :)