TURNSTONE / DECADENCE
12th July 2004
By Terry Bullen

The second semi-final gave the crowd two slightly different style bands to admire and support. First on stage were the indie rock outfit Decadence and they were followed by the Rolling Stones-esque sounds of Turnstone.

DECADENCE: Decadence put a fairly tight performance in for the first round but had some major sound issues, which lead to the band having an unbalanced sound. As for the second round the band sorted the sound issues but weren’t as tight as they were previously. So they were hoping to take the best bits from both of these rounds and encapsulate them in to this semi-final performance. Did they manage it? Yes they did, as they took their set by the scruff of the neck and produced a great sound and a much more solid and polished performance. The singer did drop below his usual high standard for a couple of the songs but for the rest of the set he was spot on and continued in his usual manner, by whipping the crowd in to a frenzy.

The impressive thing about Decadence has been the marked improved in their originals. The band have obviously been working hard on them as they’ve progressed throughout the competition and this is clear to see when they perform their best original to date “Bureaucracy Killed The World”. The band have also included some well done covers throughout the competition, with “ Gay Bar ” and “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” proving to be favourites with the crowd. The best of the covers in this rounds performance was the classic “20 th Century Boy” and the Feeder cover “Just a Day” which saw a rather lively mosh pit develop in front of the stage.

Decadence gave a tight and impressive performance for this semi-final showing and continued to show the desire and passion on stage that should see them grow and grow. The have a talented drummer in their mists and a front man with masses of style and a real swagger about him. The only thing I would say is that on the odd occasion the singer maybe needs to hold back a bit and not step over the mark with his wildman image, as it’s a fine line to tread when you’re trying to carry off that image without becoming too aggressive.

Decadence put in their best performance of the competition to date and they put it in just when they needed it. Unfortunately as I’m typing this, I’ve just been informed that they’ve not made the final, but it’s a great achievement to have got this far and the band should take a great deal of confidence from this.

Decadence will no doubt continue to grow and the bands original material is certainly starting to take shape.

TURNSTONE: Turnstone have got this far on merit and without doubt have some of the best written originals in the competition. The band always give their best on stage and continually give the impression that they’re enjoying themselves just as much as the crowd are. They’re all great musicians and they’ve chosen a style of music which they clearly excel and revel in when performing. The most impressive point about this band is their endless amount of self-penned originals. Turnstones previous performances in this year’s competition have been mightily impressive and the second round in particular was superb. The band yet again put in another stylish performance for this round, but I couldn’t help thinking that the electricity of the previous rounds was not as apparent.

For this round Guy showed the range of his musical ability, by taking to the keyboards for a couple of songs, which included a well received cover of the David Bowie song “All The Young Dudes”. The band have produced some other good covers over the rounds but the focus and best part of their sets was always the originals. The quality of these was so high that I could quite easily write about all of them but for me the best two songs and the ones I enjoyed listening to the most were “Don’t Be Denied” and “Feena Roulette”.

For me this performance was missing the sparkle of their previous outings and the first song sounded as if the guitars were out of tune. However the set still had the class and musical quality to push for a place in the finals. I think most people are expecting Turnstone in the final, so this performance was a reminder that it’s not over until the fat lady sings and has seen them come back to the pack a bit.

As above I’ve just found out they’re through to the final, so I will end this review by congratulating them and Bottom Draw on making the final. All four bands gave a great performance in the semis and this Monday’s final should be a fabulous evening for music lovers and the bands performing.

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