Let me start by saying that I've got pretty much nothing bad to say about these guys at all. As a semi professional musician myself I was totally blown away by the quality and energy of Nizlopi's performance. In fact, the only low point of the whole evening was the slightly strange set of the second support act 'lewis garland and the kett rebellion' who although not bad, were probably a little misplaced.
The first support act was a young guy by the name of Ed Sheeran. Ed performed solo with nothing but his voice, a travellers guitar and a loop sampler. 'Oh no, not another loop sampler!' I hear you cry, but Ed did make excellent and very different use of the loop sampler to bring something fresh and interesting to the mix. I would recommend going to see him if he's performing in your area.
Next up were Lewis and his Kett Rebellion who were doing an interesting historical folk type thing which seemed a little out of place but which in itself wasn't bad. Their setup was a double bass, vocals, guitar, mandolin and improvised percussion (this percussionist had a shaker taped to his foot and a tamborine hooked around his belt!).
With Lewis out of the way the crowd stood impatiently waiting for the main set to start. From the back of the main hall into the centre of what was a fairly packed standing area came two odd looking chaps carrying instruments. A sudden calm of realisation decended on the audience like a ripple flowing out from the centre and then totally unplugged Nizlopi performed their first song (which also happened to be the first song on their new album). In my book this was a ballsy start to a set, but it seemed to set the scene getting everyones attention straight away. From that point forward Nizlopi moved to the stage, plugged in and then delivered a staggering set of over an hours worth of material and then an encore.
Just the two of them managed to deliver more sound, texture and energy than many four or five piece bands I've seen recently, regulary getting the audience to sing along and even inviting a guest MC on stage to rap along to one of their songs. The double bassist was nothing short of outstanding often covering melody, bass and rythm (through either hitting the bass or beatboxing!) all on his own whilst the singer sung or played a bodhran. The singers vocals were spot on, soulful but sometimes verging into hiphop, it all worked really well and nothing seemed out of place at all.
If you get the chance to go and see these guys then definitely take it. You will not be disappointed and its something you wont forget for a while!
