Live Review: Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly, History Of The Trade and Belleville - The Attic, Canterbury - 25/01/11

Originally scheduled for December, Sam Duckworth finally makes it to the Attic, a month late, but in better health. The appearance of Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly tonight, marks another reasonably high-profile gig in succession, for this growing student venue on the University of Kent campus, which has seen Young Guns, Canterbury and The Xcerts grace it’s stage in recent months. The Attic itself is rammed, and (despite the ridiculous bar queues) the crowd is enthusiastic and in good spirits.

Opening band Belleville, aren’t afforded the luxury of a flashy light display like the other two bands, but this doesn’t faze them. Their set of eclectic anthems earn them more than a few extra fans, with the highlight being a particularly heavy version of ‘The Storm’. Next up are the super enthusiastic, History Of The Trade, who play a kind of twee Indie pop. The songs themselves aren’t that entertaining, but frontman Sam Furness, more than makes up for it in stage presence. He should be fronting a band, just perhaps not this one. Still the student audience lap them up, and they warm the crowd up well for the main act.

It’s painfully apparent from the off that the crowd are here for the headliners, and as Sam Duckworth strolls onto stage with his guitar, a drummer, and plenty of backing tracks, the applause is rapturous. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly were a phenomenon and perhaps they still are judging by their reception. Mr Duckworth starts off his set of modern-day Billie Bragg worship with ‘Queen For A Day’, off of their latest, self-titled album. The response is good, but it’s the airing of gems like ‘Call Me Ishmael’ and ‘I Spy’ off of debut album, ‘The Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager’ that really see the crowd go off.

It’s a shame that this is the case as songs such as ‘The Plot’ and ‘The Children Are (The Consumers Of) The Future’ sound as good, if not better tonight. Ever the politically-motivated and with a ripe and relevant audience, Sam uses the close of ‘I-Spy’ to attack the Tory Government and encourage the students in their protests. The speech is well thought out and intelligent, but unfortunately a “go students!” probably would have incited a similar response. Get Cape utilise their brief forty minutes well, and the mass sing-a-long that accompanies encore ‘Chronicles Of A Bohemian Teenager (Part One)’ is a fitting end to the gig.

Dan Issitt