8/1/2009 Men & Gods @ 93 Feet East

Subject	Men & Gods @ 93 Feet East
PostedDate	1/8/2009
	A reasonable crowd have braved the cold on a Thursday night this early in the New Year. I hope they had an easier time getting there than I did! It takes me an hour and a half to make the really not very long journey between north London and the east end - due to a more shoddy service than usual on our decrepit tube network.  First there is an announcement that the service is suspended due to a 'fire alert' at a station further down the line.  Then when the train eventually starts moving we are told there will be another delay due a 'passenger being taken ill' (this is usually a drunk) at another station. Then the train I'm on is taken out of service and everybody has to get off. Then we get on the next one, and that is taken out of service too - so we get off and get on the one at the next platform. Guess what? Yes, they take that one out of service too so we all have to get off a third train!  In 40 minutes I have only managed to travel 3 stops... Meanwhile, an announcement tells us we are now being held up by a 'fire alert', but at a different station than we were told before.  A few minutes later we are given the 'passenger taken ill' story again - different station this time.  By now I'm wondering if it's worth still trying to get to the gig at all in the time left before the band's stage time. I see a few other people give up on their journey and go back home - it's below freezing and it's no fun standing about waiting on an exposed above ground platform for ages.  Eventually, the passenger on fire or whatever is extinguished or removed and we are on our way. I haven't been to 93 Feet East for a while. It's supposedly one of the East End of London's cooler venues. I'd go farther than that - it's bloody cold in there tonight!  Apart from the the seperate bar area where they are playing shite dance music where it is nice and warm - but the music is so bad it drives me out.  The venue is in a converted part of the old Trumans brewery in Brick Lane - very ironic as it's impossible to get a decent pint in there! In the bar in the room the bands play in every single pump is 'off'. No decent bottled beer in there either.  At the bar in other room every single pump but one isalso out of action - and it only has overpriced Grolsh lager. What is the matter with the people who run these places? How difficult is it to arrange addequate supplies of beer to a bar? Really? It's not rocket science surely.  Due to the shite service offered by London Underground Men & Gods have already started their set by the time I emerge from the freezing fog of the east end. Fortunately, they are only on their first song so all is not lost. The band are led by probably the sharpest dressed man in rock - Marc Eden, a man so talented he can give birth to a pair of boots while performing a guitar solo. This is another band I am struggling to find anything fresh to say about after writing about them in quite a few blogs now. Men & Gods are definitely one of the most interesting bands to watch on the current scene, as not only do they really look the part, but the interplay between band members is fascinating to watch as well. They are certainly one of the most interesting live acts around at the moment, and also one of the most unique. They play very well, with real class that sets them above other bands. Hearing their stuff on MySpace doesn't give you any idea what a good live act Men & Gods really are. They take a sort of Led Zeppelin vibe, and then re-invent it and turn it into something fresh and new. Although there are some detectable retro influences, this is very much a band with an identity of their own and they stand apart from anyone else playing now. Catch 'em now while you can still see them on the cheap in intimate venues.

PS: This venue has now closed.