After not seeing Sonic Boom Six in around 8 months I had kinda forgot about the sheer magic of one of their gigs. Having previously only seen them in London venues and Sonisphere Festival 2011 I didn’t know what to expect from a little city just out side of London.
After having a few pre drinks in the Lloyds Bar in the city centre (cheeky Hooch) me and my girlfriend arrived at the tiny venue in search of what we were used to, highly energetic ska/hip hop/rock/punk. After a few more drinks I could tell that this gig was going to go slightly awry, my girlfriend began shouting to the guitarist of the band outside about how he’s unsociable and asking what he will do when a previous member (Ben Childs) returns. This was hilarious, not for poor Nick Horne I’m sure, but everyone else seemed entertained. After a while her alcohol intake got the better of her and the inevitable vomiting began. She tells me to go on ahead, which I did, foolishly but it happened. Boom had already began at this point, I entered just as Laila and Barney burst into the classic “piggy in the middle”, followed by some new tracks, including “Karma Is A Bitch” and “The High Cost Of Living”. I can’t remember which order these song went in, the hooch was crazy and has blurred the old memory hole, these are what I remember hearing/seeing. I saw around 5 songs of the set before I have a tap on the should with the words “your girlfriend needs to go home” and I’m forced to drag her back to Reading. These 5 songs however provided some of the most fun I’ve had at a gig in a long time, it was still the old bouncy madness of a boom gig, it didn’t have the atmosphere of a London gig granted, but Laila and Barney brought it very close. I will most definitely be attending the underworld gig coming up, this showed that they are still possibly my favourite live group, regardless of them touring with the blackout and the upcoming hadouken support slot.
I will however list several problems I had;
1. Obviously the vomiting girlfriend.
2. The barrier between the band and the fans, there is absolutely nothing Sonic Boom Six about have a barrier
3. I missed the familiar faces of a boom gig in London
These problems are however nothing to do with the band or their performance so I can’t hold it against them, I blame the venue.
To wrap up, a lot of Guildford now thinks I’m a complete “cunt”, not my words, theirs, for leaving my girlfriend, I saw only a very small part of the gig but what I saw has guaranteed my attendance at a lot of gigs to come.
