Ah yes, the closing date of the Over The Moon Tour 2003 – and it is made highly individual by the fact that it is being held on…err a boat!
Things didn’t really get off to a very good start when Graveltrap failed to get on the boat before it left but oh well, the only way from there was up, right? As they weren’t able to play the gig with 2 members not on the boat their slot was left blank and during this time many random songs were played to the audience and everyone just took this opportunity to have a laugh and mess about so it wasn’t all bad that a band that were billed to play the show in fact did not.
The first band to take the stage were Mixtwitch, an Irish band with their take on ska/pop punk. To be honest, they were better than I thought that they would be and played an average sort of set with a few kids at the front jumping around and generally enjoying themselves. Although they were not really my cup of tea they were still OK and they had a lot of energy and spirit which at times really got the crowd going. In this time though, many were eagerly antiscipating Whitmore and I myself was getting excited and getting ready for an intake of Ska Tropica! (6)
Solabeat Alliance (Spankboy) were the next band to take the stage and right from the very start they were energetic, loud, and full of power! As they began every one seemed to go crazy and you could see many happy faces in the audience as they played tracks from Rise On Up, Medication and even a couple of new tracks that they have been working on. I really enjoyed the time I spent nodding my head and tapping my feet to SBA as they are a really fun band and every time I see them they put a smile on my face with their upbeat ska that can not be mirrored by any other band. Although I enjoyed the set, I was a bit annoyed that I could not express my excitement by jumping around and generally throwing myself around as the ceiling was about an inch off the top of my head so I didn’t really fancy cracking my head open as this would have slightly spoiled the day! There was an exiteable bunch at the front, banging on the ceiling – probably as they couldnt jump around and you could tell by the way that the windows steamed up that everyone was having a crazy time on board the Dutch master. The left and right were split in to two sides with the left of the band having to say Sola and the right of them saying Beat. Of course the Beat was the best as I was shouting it at the top of my voice and with someone like me on their side they had to be the best side right?! So a great set played by a great band here today on the Dutch Master. (10)
Last on were the Wiltshire crew, Whitmore with their Ska/Punk songs featuring whiny American style vocals. Many got really excited about this band and to be honest I think it was the mere fact that they use to be on P-Rock 24/7 because really there is nothing special at all about this band and the set was rather dull, and only being improved by the fact that the crowd were going crazy. They played the P-Rock theme and also the critically acclaimed ‘Alison’ to win the crowd over as well as some other songs from their ‘Smoke The Roach’ which I haven’t got the faintest idea of the names. Although everyone seemed highly excited, they were about 12 years old so you cant really blame them as most had come with their parents and were about 5ft so didnt have the ceiling problem which I had. So Whitmore, in my oppinion were rather dull as the show completely lacked excitement with many just sitting on the top deck sunning themselves – or in the Dutch peoples case, shouting ‘wankers’ at random tourist boats on the River Thames. (4)
So, I felt that the only band that shined tonight were the brilliant Solabeat Alliance as I felt that they were jam packed full of energy and had a lot more to give than the other bands playing. The new tune ‘All or Nothing’ was amazing and hopefully I will get another chance to see this band play. I saw them at the Astoria back in November and although it was a massive venue, the crowd really got behind them and they played an amazing set – and I had room to do what I liked there without having to duck! So, the Over The Moon Tour is over – look out for Solabeat Alliance on their next tour which hopefully will be quite soon!
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
