17/1/2006 JOANovARC, Red Star Rebels, & Jack Viper @ Purple Turtle

Subject	JOANovARC, Red Star Rebels, & Jack Viper @ Purple Turtle
DateCreated	1/18/2006 3:18:00 PM
PostedDate	1/17/2006 2:57:00 PM
	Went to the Purple Turtle to see JOANovARC supporting Red Star Rebels. Great crowd and a few familiar faces from MySpace.  First on were Jack Viper - good axeman sporting a Parker guitar, but the singer seemed a bit cliched and trying too hard to affect an American accent and be a 'rock star'. JOANovARC were hampered by a poor sound mix, but gave their usual superb performance. They were quite different to the other acts on the bill and not that likely to appeal to many of the crowd, but they seemed to win a large proportion of those present over very quickly. I thought as far as musicianship and songwriting were concerned they were in a different class to the other bands playing this show. The headliners predictably went down a storm with most of those present, but I found their set very cliched - they seem to try so hard to be Guns 'N' Roses, but some of their songs reminded me more of Bon Jovi. They put plenty of effort into looking the part and putting on a good show for their fans, but not one single song really stood out in any way as being memorable.  The singer needs to lose that dodgy hat as well!