Black Grape bring back 90s nostalgia

Irresistible, chest-rattling bass grooves had the crowd at Mareel dancing from start to finish for the visit of Black Grape.

After a number of set-backs Shaun Ryder and co finally made it to Lerwick, and their hypnotic offering of 90s nostalgia was happily lapped up by the Saturday night crowd.

Full of energy and attitude, Kermit and shade-sporting Ryder exchanged vocal lines over relentless drum beats and roaring electric guitars.

In the Name of the Father packed plenty of punch from the off and set the tone for the rest of the show.

It was a terrific tidal wave of wah wah, rap, riffs and Mancunian swagger.

Twenty years on from the release of It’s Great When You’re Straight….Yeah – Black Grape ripped through a stellar set list including the harmonica hook-driven Reverend Black Grape.

Get Higher with its dirty guitar crunch and thumping drums whipped the crowd into a frenzy.

At times the sound mix was a little muddy and Ryder and Kermit’s voices got lost in the drums and bass. Not that the audience seemed to care as they were clearly enjoying themselves on the dance floor.

The genre melting pot of rock, acid house, and psychedelic pop was delivered in fine style, and despite Ryder joking about he and Kermit’s age and onstage dancing, they bounded round with endless enthusiasm.

Lyrically obscure Kelly’s Heroes – “Jesus was Batman” – served as a fine number in a several song encore with an old-school rock accompaniment.

Sliding on his knees and ripping into the guitar solos Seth Leppard and the rest of the band went out with a bang as Kermit and Ryder left the stage.

A Subtronics DJ set kicked off the night before local rock trio Dig Deep played a set of largely self-penned material with frontman Keirynn Topp with Stratocaster in hand.

Having only seen Topp with an acoustic guitar previously, it was a welcome surprise to see him kicking in the crunch.

Daredevil and The Machines were standouts. Topp sings with plenty of heart and power and their songs are varied in structure, from rolling bass lines, to choppy guitar rhythms and machine-gun drums.

All three are clearly talented musicians, though an extra guitarist could’ve added another layer of lead lines to what was already an assured collection of songs.

By the end of their set a good number of folk had filtered into the auditorium and those with their dancing shoes on early boogied away at the front.

A fantastic night of music and for many happy punters a tremendous trip down memory lane.