They're one of the most hotly tipped bands around. David Powles sees what all the fuss is about as Goat Girl come to Norwich.
Goat Girl headlining Norwich Arts Centre. Photo: Steve Hunt (Image: Steve Hunt)
It's amazing what a bit of hype can do.
Norwich Arts Centre was sold out on Monday night for hotly-tipped London-band Goat Girl.
But, unless I've read it very wrongly, it felt like a large proportion of the crowd were present out of curiosity and intrigue, rather than being genuine hard-core Goat Girl devotees.
And given the write ups they've been getting, including lots of positive noise about their debut self-titled album and a recent Breakthrough Act victory at the Q Awards, that's hardly a surprise.
But is all of the hype justified?
On the basis of this performance alone, not quite and not yet at least.
Goat Girl are a five-piece who have been praised for their politically-charged lyrics and grunge/punk crossover tunes. Live they've also been receiving rave reviews.
It was a surprise therefore, that at times during this 45-minute set it felt like they were going through the motions. Of course not all bands should have to throw themselves around to win the affection of the crowd, but their hearts didn't really seem into it - and it felt like this was reflected in the reaction they received.
Not that there were not moments of promise and brilliance even, particularly in their faster track like The Man (you may have heard that on the radio) and Cracker Drool, both of which sound like they could be the soundtrack for a barfight in some Western film.
On both, the jangly lead guitar is given a bit more prominence - and the songs sound all the better for it.
Otherwise there are moments where you can tell where they hype has come from but at times it begins to feel a bit repetitive.
Much has been made of lead singer Clottie Creams lyrics on their debut album and the passion in general of the rest of the band. But we don't get to see or hear enough of either during this set.
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