Live Review: Space – Docks Academy, Grimsby
19/02/2022
Grimsby, a once unlikely place to see on a tour poster is fastly turning into a must play place and that is thanks to the launch of Docks Academy by Docks Beers.
On Saturday 19th February, eccelectic, Britpop misfits Space who provided some of the most memorable tunes of the 90’s joined the ever-growing list of artists to have performed at the newest of venues in town. Support on the night came from The Rills.
A big advantage Docks Academy has over nearly every other venue in the country is that you won’t be stung paying over the odds for weak and below average Beers, the venue is above the Docks Beers brewery and taphouse, this means that the selection of beers on offer are mainly brewed on site and the selection on offer also spoils you for choice.
Lincolnshire band The Rills opened the night, and the trio of members were uniformly dressed in sand coloured mac overcoats. Some people said they looked like Ghostbusters and others said bank robbers who are disguised as decorators. The lads actually called them “Shit coats” and thought they would be funny but people always comment on them so they struck with the look. They also say, up north people call them shit coats and down south everybody wants to know where to buy one.
The Rills, like Space are also a bit eccelectic, the band powered through their set only really stopping briefly to tell the crowd to get in closer to them. Frontman Mitch Spencer towered over the front of the stage, frequently tucking his hair behind his ears with both hands while ploughing through their set. Heavier track ‘Pyro’ got the biggest reaction from the crowd, it’s hard not to get stuck in during a tune like ‘pyro’. Latest tune ‘Do It Differently’ and ‘Stardog’ had the crowed moving with their infectious grooves but it was ‘Skint Eastwood’ which steals the show, the rythem section bolts along like a horse walking, trotting and galloping through the tune, fitting in perfectly with the theme of the track.
The crowd was now full to capacity with a mix of characters, no groups of people looked the same. Older, younger, punks, Mods & Indie kids too, It felt like a pick ‘n’ mix of people that you don’t often see together at the same gig and good vibes were high.
Space started their set in chaotic form, during opening track ‘Charlie M’ keyboard player Franny Griffiths went hard from the off, so hard in fact that his keyboards went flying into the crowd, luckily nobody was hurt and this actually added to the gig, you just knew if this was happening during the opener that the rest of the gig wasn’t going to be short of mayhem. The rest of the band carried on, hardly batted an eyelid like this kind of thing always happens, while the band carried on without the keys, frontman Tommy Scott jumped into the audience and went for a walk while singing, this distracted the fans while the keyboards got sorted out.
Space were responsible for some of the most recognisable tunes of the Britpop-era and catching them all during one set shows how important the band were of that time. ‘Female of the Species’ has one of the most recognisable intros of the 90’s and is one of those tracks that everybody instantly knows, the same can be said for ‘Neighbourhood’ too and undoubted on the night these were the two tracks that united the room in the biggest sing-a-longs, with everybody knowing every word to the clever and witty lyrics.
‘The Ballad of Tom Jones’ was a track that I was most interested to see how the band were going to pull off with it being a duet with Catatonia frontlady Cerys Matthews, this was done through a projection of a strange floating head of Matthews singing her parts and Tommy Scott in turn returning his menacing lyrics back.
Away from the hits, Space also treated the more dedicated fans to tracks like the Mariachi style ‘Dark Clouds’, the James Bond-esque ‘Begin Again’ and newer and groover tune ‘Hell No’. These added a contrast to the set making it feel more of a complete show rather than just a gig.
The set was closed with two big tunes, the eerie and tense ‘Mister Psycho’ saw Tommy Scott at his best with his facial expressions giving the impression he could turn into a psycho and go on a rampage at any time.
‘Me and You Verses the World’ gave the crowd one last chance to dance and have a sing-a-long. For some in the crowd i.e. me and the lovely lady, this track was the one we had been looking forward to the most, the lyrics just mean everything and you don’t need much in life apart from you and your partner, hugs were flying around the venue not just from us two but pretty much every couple in the venue, the love was certainly flying around during the closer and I guess there is no better way to end a gig than sharing the love is there?
Docks Academy have stapled themselves as the leading venue in the Town, a Town which was pretty stale beforehand and now with the venues’ ever growing gig listing it’s an exciting time for Grimsby.
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