Gig last night at Bodega Social, Nottingham.

First Aid Kit ::

Second up were First Aid Kit {first ups not worth mentioning}, a Swedish sister duo – Klara and Johanna Söderberg – who we missed at End of The Road this year. They pelted out some pretty great two piece vocal harmonies, supported by a guitar, keyboard and autoharp.

First Aid Kit ::

The lead singer – short, brunette, wearing a great discordant floral ensemble – had a fantastic, earthy, powerful voice, whereas the backing sister  – blonde, miserable-looking – provided a softer, perhaps a little less reliable, harmonising backing presence. They squabbled on stage like…sisters, with sister number 2 berating sister number 1 for talking too much. The set was pretty great with a nice mixture of album tracks and covers – perhaps somewhat obviously they covered Fleet Foxes Tiger Mountain Peasant Song, but very successfully. We left with their latest EP.

Half of FanFarlo ::

Headliners: Fanfarlo, a five piece band from Oxford, UK, who would’ve been more suited to an End of The Road stage and were less suited to The Social which proved somewhat claustrophobic and restrictivegig for such an energetic band with their motley crew of instruments – guitars, mandolin, violin, drums, xylophone, keyboard, trumpet… Great set: upbeat, great vocals, lively… Lots of lovely whistling, foot stamping, oooh oooh oooh-ing and teeth bearing. {Reminded me a little of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah}. Highlight: ‘Finish Line’.  And, ahem, we left with some of their vinyl under our arms, too.

Finalé: Fanfarlo w/First Aid Kit covering Davendra Banhart ‘Rejoicing in the hands’.