THE QUEENS, TORPOINT (7TH APRIL)

GRASSHOPPER

(Reviewed by Marmite Girl)

Not another cover band I hear you say…..
….and you are right, Grasshopper are not just another cover band. Self-confessed purveyors of ballsy, bluesy rock with a hell of a kick these guys owned the floor from the first chord to the last.

You would be forgiven for thinking this three piece were in fact a five piece with their full-bodied sound and the two singers providing rich complimentary harmonies for each other. It was impossible to tell whether the band were driven by the drums (John) or bass given that they were so very tight and both Ben (Bass) and Mark (Guitar) on vocals pumped out songs by such varied artists as Eurythmics, the Beatles and Mr Hendrix with equal consummate ease. The set covered tracks that you had forgotten you knew rather than the standards, ranging from ‘Lady Madonna’ through ‘Sunshine of your love’ to ‘Black dog’ and having seen the original ‘Hush’ performed by the mighty Deep Purple (and may the Gods of Rock strike me down if I’m lying) the only difference was the missing Jon Lord on keyboards.

The crowd at the Queens are notoriously difficult to please with bands usually having to play several times before they`re ‘accepted’. Grasshopper had them eating out of their hands on this their first trip to Torpoint and even singing along to an upbeat version of the Proclaimers '500 miles'

If you’re looking for a band that’ll have people up and dancing (even in the confined space of the Queens ‘dance floor’) to some well crafted less obvious cover versions, then Grasshopper are your guys.

I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for when they play again and from what the crowd were saying after, I’m not the only one.

(Photos by Manda)

www.myspace.com/grasshopperuk