The Go! Team

The Go! Team are Brighton’s fluorescent multi-national, multi-talented conglomerate. Watching them is like stealing your mad aunt’s pill box, rattling about the multicoloured capsules of wonder then going on all night prescription bender - every colour more vibrant, every sound more like aural honey and every feeling heightened on the ultimate (semi) legal trip.

They take the stage to a rapturous fanfare and as ringleader Ninja rallies the eager Sheffield crowd, a monolithic freedom in pleasure ignites the dance floor, setting far-out shapes and limb contortions ablaze. So far so good.

It’s a cliché, but they’re as eclectic as eclectic can be. Harmonicas, mouth recorders, sample boxes and brass horns nestle amongst the traditional guitars, bass, and drum kits (which, by the way, they have two of), and when the sounds of each meld in together it’s like the ultimate soundtrack to a trippy kids cartoon that takes places on a brightly coloured planet in outer space.

The combination of Ninja’s histrionic provocation of the crowd, the constant switching of band member’s positions on stage (one minute you’re dancing to top single ‘Bottle Rocket’, next minute Ninja’s disappeared and the guitarists have come to the fore for an atmospheric instrumental, then suddenly one of the drummer’s is up on her feet, singing to us) and the expansive back-wall visual displays that take the show out of the context of the venue and into the realm of imagination is as grand and overwhelming as waking up to find yourself standing in Time Square during a New Year parade, dressed in a hula skirt and flower necklace.

Several new songs are included in the set, which range in success. A couple of new instrumentals that, under different circumstances, are serene somehow fail to integrate with the party-orientated Ninja-led songs, like the monumental ‘Ladyflash’, which ends their largely wonderful set.

‘Everybody Is A VIP to Somebody’ exemplifies the romantic, free spirit that is the drive of the band. In the final climatic moments of their show, Ninja shows us ‘some dancing from around the world’, throwing in traditional moves from the likes of Russia, India, Africa and, of course, England (typified by being drunk and going crazy). In doing so she reminds us of the fundamental joys of good music – it’s unifying and transcending. The Go! Team push out any hate in the world, instead capitalising on its natural good vibrations, so turn up and take note – our earth’s a place full of potential, it’s up to us to make the most of it.

FUTURE GIGS