I never really fathomed out why Black Grape never hit the heights of their musically inferior but commercially superior peers. It could have been their unsurpassable drug intake or Ryder’s unequivocal knack for messing up, just for the hell of it. Black Grape’s 1995 debut album ‘It’s Great When You’re Straight, Yeah’ still sounds like it was released last week and the lead tracks can genuinely hold their own against anything released by the likes of Blur, Oasis or even Suede in that Britpop/faux-street loaded lad mag period. So it’s slightly disappointing that this particular club gig is only about seventy-five per cent full. Undeterred Kermit and Ryder deliver a double act of humour, tunes and life once seen through a haze of dubious smoke.
A blissful opening of ‘In The Name of The Father’ is followed by the sofa surfing poetry of the jelly heavy ‘Tramazi Parti’. Sean Ryder is decked out all in black, baseball cap, jacket and shades with his new gnashers glistening under the bright lights, Kermit is just understatedly, as cool as fuck! It’s Kermit who along with the ultra-tight band who guide Sean and steer the BG live ship. A rocking ‘Nine Lives’, ‘A Big Day In The North’ and the elation station of ‘’Set The Grass On Fire’ gets the shoulders shrugging and arms waving. The floor bounces as one when the opening bars of the band’s debut single ‘Reverend Black Grape’ reverberates out of the Sub speakers. This joyfully eclectic ditty highlights Ryder’s timeless Manc delivery and his almost otherworldly lyrical drug schooled culturalistic viewpoint which has the ability to perfectly paint the most vivid of scenes in the listener’s mind. ‘Pop Voodoo’, ‘Yeah, Yeah Brother’ and the crimson pavement stained anthem ‘Shake Your Money’ send the band stage left. They return for an elongated ‘Little Bob’ and with that, they’re gone. A short, sweet, deeply inhaled and stunning gig.