Brighton's best...
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T-Rextasy...
review Get it on! September 29th would have been Marc Bolan's 58th birthday so it's appropriate that the closest thing you'll get to the real thing are playing tribute to the Pixie of Pop.“I wonder what Marc would have looked like today?" asks ersatz Bolan Danielz swishing his boa and flashing his glittery chops. “Better than you!" shouts out one wit from the audience. Given the precarious nature of tribute bands this is a mite unfair. Falling into two categories, half of them are composed of four or five pudgy blokes content to merely ape the group's sound. The others half push the boat out and make the effort to look like the original artist. To sometimes limited effect: four or five pudgy blokes in ill-fitting wigs, platforms and spangles. Danielz and his band Happily, T-Rextasy opt for the latter and succeed. Resplendent in feather boa, glitter, sparkly girly blouse, trousers, stacka-heels and trademark corkscrew hair, Danielz and his band do actually sound like T-Rex - wobbly vocals and all. I can't for the life of me remember what the rest of the band looked like so I can't comment on their authenticity - but they look suitably glammed up. Regarded by some as a bit of a novelty act, T-Rextasy strive to show that T-Rex were, on the contrary, a pretty raw, full-on rock outfit. Sure, you can sing along “la-la-la" style to standards like Hot Love - but they trawl through a pretty decent retrospective of the band's career, unearthing the odd obscure, heavier b-side, but leaving out the more acoustic, whimsical stuff about wizards and unicorns from their Flowery Tyrannosaurus Rex. So for the second half of the set we're treated to all the hits: 'Get It On', '20th Century Boy', 'Telegram Sam', 'Ride a white swan', 'Children of the Revolution', 'Jeepster', 'Metal Guru' and the recently popularised 'I Love to Boogie' - they're all there and proficiently performed. And the finale of Summertime Blues - the finale of T-Rex's live show - finds T-Rextasy covering T-Rex covering Eddie Cochrane. But the mind seems to cope. I thought this might end up being a sad trawl through a nostalgia I never experienced at first hand. But hey, unlike with bands such as 2U, you're never going to be able to see these songs performed by the original, thanks to that tree in 1977, so put on your tall hat and your tattooed gown; this is the closest you're ever going to get. And, bang a gong, it's pretty darn close.
Danielz/T.Rextasy responds: Thanks to Marc Gibbons for the review of our last concert at The Concorde2 in September. A couple of things I need to readdress. Firstly, the guy that called out 'Better then you' when I asked what Marc may have looked like now, was actually someone I know and it was a joke. Also, we are most definitely not by any standards known as a novelty band by anyone. We try and stand aside from most other tributes, having toured all over the world, and are signed up with Columbia Records in Japan - we have also played Wembley Arena 3 times to date. Also, I never wear stack heels - I wear tap shoes, the same as Marc Bolan used to. T.Rex morphed into many guises so band members came and went, in that I am lucky to obtain good musicians first, rather than people who just 'look' the part. Saying that, I thank you for at least trying to get a look within what we are about and have been for the past 13 years. Keep a little Marc in your heart,
about Concorde 2
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...leave a yum! on a photo of someone you've taken a shine to to let them know you care! How to Yum!
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