@ Summerhall, Edinburgh on Sat 9 May 2015
“It’s for a good cause so all mistakes are automatically forgotten,” says Martin John Henry from Henry and Fleetwood after a decent attempt at The Breeder’s Fortunately Gone. Henry’s words sum up the night at TeenCanteen presents The Girl Effect for Scottish Women’s Aid, where a mixed bag of bands cover their favourite girl group songs to create a gig with a unique and creative charity theme. Scottish Women’s Aid champion a worthy cause, working as they do towards the prevention of domestic violence through campaigning and lobbying. A raffle, glitter face painting, and a spoken word project – where everyone adds their favourite line from a girl group song to make a ‘master girl power poem’ – add to the fun of the evening.
An eclectic part of Summerhall’s Nothing Ever Happens Here concert series, these 14 bands take to the stage with a range of classics and more modern lady group favourites. Stanley Odd gives the best performance of the night, mixing the haunting melodic vocals of Veronika Electronika with the wordplay of Solareye, who can rap as well as harmonise. He’s not your average rapper. Their covers of Really Saying Something/ Doin’ The Do by The Velvelettes/ Betty Boo and Honey by TeenCanteen has an initially lethargic Edinburgh audience dancing their socks off. Body Heat‘s performance of the Go-Go’s We Got the Beat is slightly anaemic and lacks the pep of the original. The band look in need of energy drinks.
The overall organisation is a bit of a let down, and this definitely impedes the sound quality. Levels of amplification are noticeably unbalanced; singers sound garbled and the bass can be so thumping that the audience feels like they are being physically shaken. This is especially evident during Machines In Heaven‘s cover of Bills Bills Bills by Destiny’s Child, an otherwise well done electronic delight with plenty of synth. Between-band transitions aren’t sharp enough, and sometimes take longer than the duration of each band’s set. A sadly stuttering way to proceed that disrupts the flow of an otherwise engaging evening of fun.
The next show in the Nothing Ever Happens Here series features Phantom Band, Man of Moon and Digital Analogue playing at Summerhall on Thurs 14 May.