MS MR

When: Wednesday 17^th July

Where: Electric Ballroom

Why: Eve Barlow (@Eve_Barlow) recommended them on twitter as sounding a bit like a blue-haired Florence and the Machine so I had a listen and loved them.

I think the Electric Ballroom might be my spiritual home. I had one of the most Nineties evenings of my life, it was incredible. It’s a good old-school venue, scruffy but not grubby, with cheap red stripe and a load of cooling air pumping around the whole time which as a frequent over-heater, I was delighted by. Big fan.

There was lead up music in the form of a DJ set by Charli XCX, and support from the awesome Thumpers (@Thumpers) who are great, kind of cheerful and dancy (they’re officially describe as ‘alt pop’ but I don’t know what that means).

This was MS MR’s biggest gig to date as headliners, and their excitement was obvious right from the start – they were smiling constantly, overwhelmed, grateful and utterly endearing. Their energetic dancing and enthusiastic stage presence was so charming and super cool. They had a distinctly Nineties aura about them in some ways – there was a definite feel of Garbage on that stage, and lead singer Lizzy’s outfit of tie-dyed hair and spotty leggings wouldn’t have looked out of place on me at a year 5 disco. But like, in a really really good way (I wish I’d been that cool). The music was absolutely brilliant; Lizzy’s voice is stunning and the gig was really polished and flowed perfectly. Their music is kind of vintage grungy, cool but tuneful, and immense to dance to. They finished on their debut single ‘Hurricane’ and the crowd went wild. Throughout the gig they got a huge response from the crowd, with genuine love and enthusiasm hurled right back at them from the audience. It was one of the most friendly crowds I’ve ever been in and it made for a great atmosphere in an ideal venue. If I can ever catch MS MR live again I wouldn’t hesitate to get myself down there.

Brixpig x