2024/02/08 – Kosheen – The Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
Review & Photos: G. Rossington
On a horrid, wet and rainy night in Birmingham, the heat inside the Castle & Falcon is humid. There is an air of anticipation and vitriol as the virtually Sold Out crowd anticipate the arrival of one of the 2000’s eclectic dance groups to arrive.
Always seemingly overshadowed by Moloko at the time, Kosheen, who are led by the charismatic Sian Evans continued to beaver away and persevere. With this show delayed from September last year, they are celebrating the 25th Anniversary of their conception.
The show is kicked off by Frankie Knight who offers a short but intricate set of upbeat, stompers combined with electro-chills. She is well received by the ever growing audience who are building in anticipation of the main event. After the last track, there are calls for an encore, but she steps aside for the stage to be cleared.
Just before 9pm, a glance at the stage is one of those moments where you do a double take as it seems to suddenly increased in size. With the drum kit set up in the far left corner and a guitar amp set up on the right, the stage is set for the 90-minute romp through Kosheen’s back catalogue.
Ron McElroy (Guitar) and Mitchell Glover (Drums) arrive first and launch in to the opening bars of ‘Damage’ which build and build in to a raucous stomp. Sian Evans slinks her way to the mic and launches straight in to the vocal line.
The majority of the set tonight comes from 2001’s phenomenal debut, ‘Resist’ record. But as Sian states, “…Tonight, we are going to delve in to each record from our catalogue in the hope that it triggers some amazing memories for you”. 2003’s ’Kokopelli’, 2007’s ‘Damage’, 2012’s ‘Independence’ and 2013’s ‘Solitude’ are all represented as well as a couple of covers thrown in for good measure. The only thing missing is anything potentially from the future. But at present, we do not know if there will be anything from the camp.
‘Hungry’ is an early anthem that is greeted with sheer delight from the excited audience. A huge singalong and even some breakdancing from certain members of the audience is witnessed. ‘(Slip & Slide) Suicide’, ‘Dependency’ and the phenomenally anthemic ‘Hide U’ close the main set. The sheer delight and throwback from the audience reception is a delight and signifies the change that we are now progressing towards a 90’s/2000’s rejuvenation.
After a few moments, the band return and kick off with ‘Catch’, possibly their most well-known song in terms of chart history. This takes the roof off the room which has now turned up a good 20+ degrees compared to the start of the night. Finally, a cover of DJ Fresh’s ‘Louder’ closes the encore.
Sian Evans who was beaming full of smiles and confidence throughout the entire performance is smiling even wider as the band come forwards together to say their goodbyes. She gives enormous credit to Ron and Mitchell who are applauded by the crowd. With a final “Goodbye, see you soon” and waves all around, the band leave and the final fight for people to grab the setlist begins.
Kosheen are an amazing live act and certainly should be celebrated a lot more in their special anniversary year. They are continuing throughout the UK and Europe over the coming weeks, but will be back in the UK later in the Spring with some incredibly special orchestral dates.
