BlahBlahBlah Present: Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs
Concorde2 & Audio Brighton
Friday 12th October 2012
My eyes couldn’t quite believe it when I read an event invitation from the Blah Blah Blah crew for a double dosing of one of my favourite artists of all time… All in ONE night! The news that Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (T.E.E.D) was to once more embrace the chilly Brighton seafront inevitably got me buzzing for at least a month before the event itself… (As you can probably imagine, it was a long month.)
The crew with their ears held closely to the ground (BlahBlahBlah) were the ones hosting this dual spectacular. With their usual haunt for this kind of act being that ‘cool club’ under the arches- Digital, it was an interesting alteration of venue to have the live T.E.E.D show at Concorde2.
Marching along the seafront to try and make it to Concorde2 for the unusually early start of 19:30 was a struggle, especially after being held up by the extensive menu they now have at Pizza Express. But thankfully I arrived bang on time.
Greeted by the familiar steamy windows of Concorde2, ripped off sleeveless t-shirts and a load of spangley hipsters in Disco pants and wayfarers… For some reason missing their lenses!? It is evident that T.E.E.D’s popularity has gone far beyond the underground music scene- and is now speeding at an incredible rate onto mainstream airwaves with platforms such as Radio 1 promoting his sound to a global audience.
It was the umpteenth time I’d seen T.E.E.D live and he is yet to disappoint. His timid interior and extrovert exterior creates such a wonderfully intriguing character. Entering the stage wearing a luminous, neon outfit of white and yellow with what looked like a stitched on ocular ribcage, the crowd instantly began to get boisterous.
As all good music journalists know, the era of the good old fashioned pen and notepad is dead. All hail the IPhone to take notes of every important detail. At this particular gig however, the bass induced mosh pit I had unknowingly entered disallowed me to tap down anything of much sense (so apologies if this review is a little sketchy.) Not even managing to hold my pint of lager without it spilling it on my phone, face, Disco pants and, well, everything, I gave in and agreed with myself that dancing and singing along minus a beer was my only option.
Latest release, ‘Your Love’, induced a bass-riddled frenzy and arms began swimming around the air in time to the beat… The infamous T.E.E.D dancers gallivanted on stage donning some marvellous Lycra onsies with giant piano keys down the right leg.
Playing the majority of the ‘Trouble’ album, what I love about the character behind the feather headdress (Orlando Higgingbottom) is how much the whole Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs act has grown and developed. Now so much more than just a DJ, he is a fully formed artist, offering unique vocals and impressive DJing skills.
Covered in beer, loosing balance and even feeling the bass in my gums, the song that everyone had been waiting for finally got played; ‘Garden’ (Also known as ‘that song on the Nokia advert’) KICKED OFF. It was awesome. There were streamers, there was glitter, there were flashing lights and there was tons of dancing.
Personally, I really enjoy the intimate setting of Concorde2 and even though it is more traditionally a venue for bands, with the rising popularity of dance music the demand for bigger venues in Brighton is rife and Concorde2 is certainly fitting.
Orlando’s monotone expression is something that definitely adds to the enigmatic character that is T.E.E.D, but as predicted, it was for me, another exceptionally good live show. With more glitter than feathers on this tour, it was to my absolute delight that for his encore he came out in a huge light-up plastic feather headdress… Quite hard to explain, but you really have to see it to believe it.
With a ten o’clock curfew, it was straight on to Audio for a voyage back into T.E.E.D’s earlier roots as an underground DJ. A great set followed by the guys that are amazing at making good sh*t happen… BlahBlahBlah we salute you!
Words: Thea Wise (The Vintage Scribbler)
Photo: Justin DeSouza (Fresh to Death)