The Longest Day/Ethel/King of Hearts –The Gander, Bournemouth- 19th June 2008


As I climb the stairs to the "New" Gander , my nostalgic thoughts are of all the rock nights and gigsover the years in this wonderful atmospheric old building.Tonight is the 1st time I have been here in a very long while. At around 9pm "King of Hearts" took to the stage a four piece band producing a wonderful true rock sound with great harmonized vocals and great guitar effects, a good solid half an hour set with some great original tunes.



"Ethel" is a rather unusual name for band, I was expecting that old lady with her dog from "Eastenders", however two guys somewhat resembling Ant and Dec in black suits with white ties took to the stage. Their sound was something between "Weezer" and "The Presidents of the USA" with a very funky bass guitar. The banter between the two front guys on stage was very funny and worked very wel. "Agoraphobiac" a song apparently about staying was one of their set's standout tracks. Joe, Nick and Dougal are a very entertaing trio, with their stage presence and their great songs going done well with the small but appreciative audience.



The reason I left my home to come here tonight was to hear "The Longest Day", after stumbling upon their "My Space" page by chance, the songs that I heard there really impressed me. One of those songs was the opening track tonight "Utopia" which showed that this 3 piece packed a real punch with some great guitar work with stunningly good vocals. A cover of the Nirvana song "Breed" was thrown in midway through the set, a great version adding some variety, however with their own material being so good I would have preferred more of that. This sound deserves to be heard in a big place, it is atmospheric , inspiring and even making the hairs on the back on my neck stand up. The electronic backing tracks merged perfectly well with the drums and guitars giving a truly memorable listening experience. "Suit of Lies" for me was one of the stand out tracks of the night, with vocalist Dan Henry giving a very emotional performance despite their only being a dozen or so people in the audience. The Longest Day deserve to be heard my many more people, they are something very special .



SetList-The Longest Day



Utopia

Breathe More Air

Suite of lies (Videoclip http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=hqOgXklhxKE )

Breed(Nirvana Cover)

Content Enough

"Guitar Jam"

New Song

Time Will Tell

King Of Infirmary



Ethel- Boy Genius- videoclip- http://www. youtube. com/watch?v=9Ll8N09TOF4





www. myspace. com/longestdayuk

www. thelongestday. biz

www. myspace. com/ethelband

Kind Regards

Chinners