This gig was a bit of a punt for me. I heard a track on the radio and thought I like that. A week later I noticed Warpaint were playing the junction and so the deal was done and a ticket purchased.

On the evening Warpaint were suppored by Connan Mockasin. Oddly enough this was the third time I was to see this band from New Zealand who were originally billed as Connan and the Mokasins (2006 - Greenman Festival). Each time the line up changes somewhat and the catalogue gets more escoteric. The lead singer Connan Hosford was still playing his modified stratocaster and the bands psychadelic pop mix as evre takes a while to tune in to. At times it almost feels jazz like. As a support act they might seem like hard work. The music is challenging and really is not about getting the crowd going. That said they fitted the bill perfectly with Warpaint as the musical styles blended well.

Unfortunately there was an unduely long break between Connan and Warpaint. There was no need and no explanation as they arrived on stage at 9:20!! After which they then proceeded to tune their guitars. I will refrain from commenting on that more. At the end of the day this is a rock concert we are not talking divas or even the necessary finesse exact tuning demanded by some types of music. If I was cynical I might suggest this was deliberate time wasting to fill the slot alloted due to only having two albums to their name.

The set was dark and smoke filled. Were they really that ugly or make up that bad they needed to hide? A bad case of over zealous atmosphere I think. The evening progressed with live renditions of their songs ranging between 5 and 8 minutes each. Some were clearly better than others... Undertow being noteable. It was at best an OK performance. Some might say that the band dlowed effortlessly from one track to the next. True in the same way you might not notice elevator music change. Ambient yes. But perhaps this is what it was about.. soaking up an atmosphere and being drawn into the mood. I have seen them referred to as an experimantal rock group clearly that reviewer hasn't listened to much music.

A 25 minute encore jam was simply indulgent even by prog rock standards. It was noise for the sound of it.

This gig was the first on their UK tour and it showed. The sound quality was poor and the band themselves wern't always connected. Stella Mozgawa worked hard on the drums to keep other lack lustre performances in check.

This gig promised so much more than it delivered. It could have been great. It wasn't. That said it was a good evening out and certainly gained enough interest for me to go see them again.

7/10