I have never been to The 100 Club before although I had heard it is a legendary venue. I first came across Brix when she was presenting ‘Gok’s Fashion Fix‘. I wasn’t all that familiar with The Fall due to my young age (I’m only 21 lol) but my mum always educates me on cool bands that were before my time. So seeing that she’s now part of Brix & The Extricated (four of the five members were in The Fall at some point) I definitely wanted to see them live. It so happens that a documentary about them forming as a band was also showing as part of Sound Screen Film Festival so I got the best of both worlds.
The 21st March had arrived and I was excited to see the bands documentary, ‘Uncaged‘ and see them perform live after. Unfortunately, this excitement was short lived. As we approached the venue the few people already queuing were very hostile and the security guard was extremely rude; not a good start. After having some issues getting in we descended down the stairs to enter the main room which had primary school plastic chairs placed in a few rows. I was a bit confused as although it’s not a cinema venue I did expect a bit more effort. It did take a long time for the film to start and It became really packed and claustrophobic with many people having to resort to standing.
However, guess who sat next to us? The iconic fashion designer Pam Hogg. We’ve met her a few times before and it was lovely to have a brief conversation with her. The documentary itself I really enjoyed as we got to see a lot of funny moments and get to know each band member a bit more. I think what would’ve made it better would’ve been seeing it in a cinema.
A break was taken so that they could drag away the chairs and projector and screen away. I was disappointed that the 100 club didn’t have any sparkling wine or prosecco by the glass. The band came on stage without Brix who was lead on by the tech guy with a blindfold on; she proceeded to sing ‘Alaska‘ with the blindfold on before ripping it off. I have to say, Brix brings so much energy to the stage you just cant help but boogie along with her. We were lucky enough to hear them play two new songs which I thoroughly enjoyed. The transition she made between just singing and sing and playing guitar.
Although they left the stage after their final song, they came back for an encore to perform one of The Falls songs with Nadine Shah. The crowd were buzzing and belting out lyrics, it was such a lovely sight to see.
Even though, my experience wasn’t all that great, I really did enjoy watching Brix & The Extricated and I definitely will be following their progress over the coming years.