What are we doing in the Cockpit?
Little Barrie are now four albums in, quite easily one of the most impressive live bands in the country, and featuring one of the most respected musicians in music today. So again, what are we doing in the Cockpit?
It would appear that we’re once again realising Little Barrie are quite possibly the most underrated band in music. Barrie Cadogan plays guitar like he’s proudly scratching his arse; nonchalantly and with effortless and unfaltering ease. His fingers know exactly where they are and hit all the right spots with nothing but instinct, making it look insultingly simple. The Cockpit, a wonderful venue, is only suitably full for what is a tour de force by Little Barrie. A girl at the front, with the look of a young Christine McVie, puts the rest of the audience to shame with the passion and reverence with which she is enjoying the performance.
The band loom over her, Cadogan at points almost lost behind, but never outmatched by his impressive guitars, bassist Lewis Wharton, immovable and threatening – like a cross between Clark Kent and Stephen King. Drummer Virgil Howe, a crazed, humorous and unbuttoned Chris Cornell as latin-lothario lookalike, has a drum kit that is lucky to survive his onslaught.
The skill level of the band is so high, at points they appear to almost be showing off. They are comfortable with each other, and feed off each other’s energy and performance. Nothing looks troubling, and in many respects they don’t even have to shift through the gears. Although it’s not cruise mode; they burst through their set, playing with the intensity of a younger band, which considering the decision to effectively excise any material from their first two albums, they may as well be.
Riffs saturate the crowd, Cadogan’s guitar spitting out with almost scornful disdain, never stopping or pausing to collect the admiration or appreciation. The band just keep pushing forward, pushing back the crowd and their expectations.
With an Isaac Hayes ‘Shaft’ on steroids version of ‘Tip It Over‘, a primordial rumble is created that could take the enamel off your teeth, recent single and instant classic ‘Pauline‘ is as phenomenal as it is awfully named.
Yet, it is the total destruction and carnage caused by the amazingly powerful one-two of ‘New Diamond Love‘ segueing straight into the ferocious ‘Surf Hell‘ that repeatedly beats the crowd about the head until submission. It is almost inhumane, just how raw and dangerous these two tracks sound. The audience would have stood stunned if they hadn’t already been shaken into violent and vigorous action.
Cadogan throughout seems to be attempting to throw his guitar at the audience, so how any sound, let alone one this immense, is coming out is a miracle, only his strap saving the audience from a literal version of the guitar to the face that he has been serving up all evening.
Leaving the Cockpit in one piece feels like an achievement. One of the best kept secrets in music today, Little Barrie only know how to attack. And with a truly sadomasochistic pleasure, their fans love to take the beating. Ferocious and primal, this is music at its most fundamental and appealing.
What else could you need?