Live Review: The Zutons and The Shore in West Hollywood, CA

Thursday's (2/11) sell-out crowd at West Hollywood's Troubadour was witness to a musical odyssey featuring the space-rock of local heroes The Shore and the cacophonous, dark psychedelia of Liverpool quintet The Zutons.

Opening the night with a jam tribute to the late, ethereal songwriter Chris Bell, singer/guitarist Ben Ashley mused, "Every night I tell myself, I am the cosmos," before sending the audience on a short instrumental voyage that blended into "Different Ways," their first proper song of the night.

Whether it was a riff from Ashley's 12-string Rickenbacker on the new song "Moccasin," or an echoing slide chord from new guitarist Randy Billings on "Take What's Mine," the band's set flowed effortlessly, drawing mostly from its self-titled debut.

Soon after The Shore's wall-of-sound jam from their set-concluding piece, "Coming Down," The Zutons politely arrived on stage, infecting the crowd with their catchy song "Zuton Fever."

The quintet features singer Dave McCabe's pop vocals coated with cool, garage-guitar work from Boyan Choudhury and edgy sax segments from Abi Harding. Songs from their debut release, "Who Killed The Zutons," either came on like a freight train ("Pressure Point" and "Havana Gang Brawl") or like a butterfly ("Remember Me" and "Confusion"), but kept the audience drawn in wherever the music roamed.

The set closed with the audience singing along to "You Will, You Won't," concluding a psychedelic-rock revival reminiscent of Sly and The Family Stone--but sprinkled with some sleazy, mysterious elements unique to The Zutons.

Taken from http://www.livedaily.com/news/7682.html