Bentley Rhythm Ace : London Astoria 6th May 2000
REVIEW
Sunday 7th May 2000
If you are not familiar with BRA (named after a drum apparently) you will not read a description that stands a chance of capturing what they are like you simply have to go see for yourself. Probably the only thing that you can accurately say is that this is a band that is simply having fun. No pretentions just a bloody good laugh. Whatever they were on last time around we don’t know but rest assured they are still taking it.
So what sort of music is it? The easy bit is that they do a few full-on trance numbers that work extremely well. As for the rest, it gets a bit harder, mainly because there may well be a mix of styles even within a single number, blending straight forward rock beats with gritty techno. No ballads here, the idea is to get the crowd moving.
This was a set played live exclusively for a Japanese TV audience and, therefore, was at 2pm in the afternoon at the Astoria in London not the ideal time of day for a full-on dance experience but the rent-a-crowd (for that was us) loved it. Now, this crowd might have all been die-hard fans, but this stuff would have got just about any crowd moving.
Bottom line: try to fit BRA into your festival schedule if you can.
review by Pete Smith
photos by Pete Smith
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