The Go! Team @ Princess Pavilions, Falmouth

All is quiet in Cornwall. Sunday night in the seaside student town of Falmouth is a million miles away in tone from the busy capital, and about a thousand Fish & Chip shops from the nearest tapas bar. Under a clear sky the entire contents of the local arts campus and sixth form stand clutching wholesome ale in the picturesque pavilion awaiting some excitement to end their week…Be careful what you wish for. With a solid set by support group Banjo or Freakout soon over The Go! Team fly onstage like a twelve-legged bat out of hell, instantly bitch-slapping everyone with an audio explosion of their own creation. Welcoming roar still ringing round the venue’s intimate Victorian styled interior, the group rip into new single T.O.R.N.A.D.O , setting the pace for what’s to be a non-stop, ass moving, foot stomping kinda night.

The stage set up is testament alone to the fact that Falmouth’s usual acoustic leanings are about to get thrown out for something fresher. Besides the instantly recognisable fact that there’s not one but two flashing drum kits, The Go! Team soon make use of; synths, steel drums, xylophone, typewriter (with attached bell) as well as a harmonica to get the message across. Their genre-mixing brand of energised rock/indie/funk/soul that wowed some many on record is only truly realised when performed for all to see. A great band will be better than an album when seen live and this lot from Brighton are no exception, destroying any fond memories of listening to the L.P at home and replacing them with high octane displays of instrument swapping.



With the evidence on show tonight the studio is clearly a crutch for The Go! Team, a limiting arena that can’t quite capture their true essence. In the flesh it’s the fury of Sonic Youth filtered though 60s and 70s kitsch. A six-piece garage monster fed on retro television and vinyl. Wisely they opt to cover a nice selection of material from all three albums rather than smother the audience with new and thus lesser-known material - the venue is intimate and it’s important to get the crowd on side. Comments such as “I wanna see some bootyshake!” from rapper Ninja help achieve this as she, dressed in sports top and jogging bottoms, comes across as the most badass personal trainer ever to set foot on earth. In fact the whole gig is something like a workout, audience and band feeding on each other’s energy, limbs thrown with wild abandon as the band jump in unison more times than Busted in their heyday. New number ‘Back Like 8 Track’ finishes off the first leg of things before a three-song classic encore causes the very building and barriers to shake. While a journalistic cliché, in this instance it’s true, Cornish entertainment centres are not built to withstand the level of funk going down. Mashed up, sweaty but never beaten, The Go! Team stroll offstage justifiably pleased with their performance and the hundreds of fans screaming for more. 


Photo: Rebecca Mackay-Roberts