THE ZOO       Wednesday 31^st May 2006.

Line Up

Lloyd CROFT                     Drums

John DIXON                       Lead

Brian CURRY                     Bass

Ste FOTHERGILL            Vocals ( and occasional acoustic)

I understand from Marty, this group were formerly known as Tennessee Hollow, and have been to this venue before, additionally they were recommended BY Marty as ‘good’ with an excellent guitarist who ‘does Freebird really well’. I will come to that later.

The Zoo were a young group with some obvious talents, but their talents were somewhat obscured by poor sound set up. Too much lower bass from the drums which drowned the bass guitar, and the backing vocals from Brian were non-existent due to the level of the mike too low. Despite this, they produced an energetic and varied playlist, from ancient Free numbers to the Libertines.

Whether it was me getting used to picking up other instruments as the night progressed or the beer having a mellowing effect but the second half was far better than the first set.

The main songs that stood out from the rest out of the first set, were Free’s ‘Feel like making love’ and The Cult’s ‘Sanctuary’, but only because emphasis was on hitting the high pitches and escaping from the bonds of the bass.

As I said, second set much better – more highlights and more audience participation –

The White Stripes ‘Elephant’, Free’s ‘Alright Now’, The Clash –‘Should I stay…’and The Kaiser Chiefs ‘Riot’, shining out above the others.

The finish off, The Zoo’s signature tune ‘Freebird’- excellent, the best performed throughout, with John Dixon finally showing what he can do given the chance.

On the whole –not bad – but get the sound right and a more logical flow to the set list which did jump about too much, then four individuals become a band.

Gazinho