I really enjoyed this show. To my amateur ear, Cabbage's performance was tight and the sound was really clean and good. While I love the energy and rawness of their music, I really wasn't expecting this level of quality from such a young band.
The two frontmen, Lee Broadbent and Joe Martin, looked comfortable on stage and were both compelling to watch as they traded vocal duties back and forth. Broadbent seemed bolstered by some liquid courage, but without detracting from his performance. Eoghan Clifford on guitar shared the limelight during
Perdurabo, a song I have a new appreciation for after hearing it live. Stephen Evans and Asa Morley on bass and drums respectively were solid while blending into the background.
I'd read that Cabbage usually start their shows with an explosion of energy and end up shirtless, sweaty and crowd surfing. So, when they kicked off with the slow
Reptiles State Funeral I puzzled over the choice and think it would have fit in better later in their set. They followed it up with the agressively energetic
Uber Capitalist Death Trade, so all was forgiven. Unfortunately, during the show anyone attempting to crowd surf was manhandled down by an over-watchful bouncer, so it's not surprising the energy didn't peak as it could have, and the boys in the band never reached that point themselves. A jacket or two came off, and Broadbent came down to our level and enthusiastically sang to us from his side of the barricade, but that was it. No encore was forthcoming but I don't think they do them as a rule.
Being Norwich, and this being a punk(ish) gig, there was a fair number of older punters in attendance. They all stood around the edges, while the mostly younger fans formed a circle pit having a fun old time. It was a good vibe and no one was being an asshole that I could tell.
Before the show, just after we arrived, I had a brief chat with Joe Martin in the front lobby when I asked him when they were on. He was wearing a beret and a buttoned-up short trenchcoat, which makes sense when you find out he did performance poetry before the band formed. He said he liked my Sleaford Mods shirt in a low-key Northern accent, and I found out he has an aunt who lives near where I'm from in Canada.
Setlist
Reptiles State Funeral
Uber Capitalist Death Trade
Arms of Pleonexia
Preach to the Converted
Molotov Alcopop
Disinfect Us
Terrorist Synthesizer
Gibraltar Ape
Exhibit A
Dinner Lady
Perdurabo
Postmodernist Caligula
Necroflat In The Palace
