4/8/2006 GABBA @ the Purple Turtle

Subject	GABBA @ the Purple Turtle
PostedDate	8/4/2006
	I'd been looking forward to seeing GABBA for some time, but their gigs seem to be very rare occurances. As it turned out, the first gig of theirs I've been able to go to turned out to be at an ideal venue for their Ramones meets ABBA mutated sound - the Stay Beautiful club at Camden's Purple Turtle. This club plays loads of classic 70's glam rock and pop, with a load of classic 70's punk thrown in to the mix - so both ABBA and the Ramones are likely to be heard at the club anyway. A band who's whole image as well as their music is directly lifted from these two classic acts is going to fit in perfectly. I expect virtually no one in the club's usual crowd had ever heard of GABBA or had any idea of what they are about, but the genius of this band is that although no one knew who they were, and they were playing 'original' songs - all the songs sounded familar. Also, the venue was full so the band had a good crowd of receptive people to play to and the atmosphere was excellent.  Unfortunately, the sound was pretty bad for the first half of GABBA's set with the vocals burried well down in a muddy sounding mix, but things did improve later. The only other down side of it for me was that the band went on nearly 40 minutes after they were due on stage so I had to miss the last tube home and get the night bus  - but it was worth it. GABBA were great fun!  Their image is a mixture of the classic Ramones punk rock look, and ABBA's cheesy 70's pop image. It's ridiculous - but that's the whole idea. There was some idiot towards the back heckling "Play your own songs" who obviously didn't 'get it'. This guy was trying to appear 'cool' by showing that he recognised the songs, but actually he was just showing his ignorance of the ABBA and Ramones material because in fact the band were playing their own songs - albeit made shamelessly from bits of stolen ABBA and Ramones classics - but that was the whole point. The only cover song the band played all night was their encore of 'Rockaway Beach'.  The Ramones were meant to be fun - so are GABBA. I think this mixture works really well and is a lot of fun. By the reaction from the crowd, most of them 'got it' and really enjoyed the band's set - I know I did.  I enjoyed nearly all the music the club's DJs were spinning as well - it was great to see people going just as crazy (if not more so) to punk classics by The Damned and Sex Pistols as well as the glam rock of The Sweet, T-Rex, New York Dolls, and the pop of Blondie ect. It certainly took the edge off missing the last train home and made me stay until the end - although I was a bit miffed to be refused service at the bar at 2.59 when it was supposed to be open till 3.00 and drinks were still being poured a couple of minutes later...  And then when I was standing at the bus stop a little later the first bus didn't even stop as it was so full.  And the next bus to arrive ten minutes or so later was so packed it was difficult squeezing through the door to get onto it at all.  Still, until 2.59 it was an excellent night out and in spite of my minor gripes it was well worth it.  I hope it's not too long before the next GABBA show...