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BAD FRIDAY!
Peluché,
Dead Coast,
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Calva Louise,
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The Windmill, Brixton
Good Friday, 14th April 2017
3pm till late

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Gig Review

Holly Golightly / Betty and the Werewolves / The Actionettes
London, 100 Club

Article written by Ged M - Feb 25, 2008

I feel underdressed. Over there by the bar is a guy in a top hat who looks as if he’s been drawn by Dr Seuss. Just by the DJ booth is Private Walker from Dad’s Army, in civvy dress. If he opened that zoot suit I’m sure he’d sell me an egg, maybe a tin of spam, and a pair of real American nylons for a guinea, without worrying about ration books. And then there’s the girls! Chiffon, silk, it’s like London Fashion Week for anti-fashion bombshells. And if you want to look like these people, there are stalls selling vintage 50s, 60s and 70s gear that a younger version of me might have fitted but alas now… These Actionettes really know how to throw a party!

But though it’s dressy, the only code is fun. This ain’t Shoreditch! Our Actionettes know that true beauty lies within so the look (they’re all in spotty frocks), the dance-offs and the smooth compere are all about having a good time. That’s what rock’n’roll was for originally - celebrating today because yesterday was bad and tomorrow looks hellish - and it’s what makes Holly Golightly so good. Her perfectly paced set of bluesy, country rock’n’roll is relentlessly upbeat, the guy on Hammond organ pumping out funky riffs and Miss Golightly herself metaphorically leaning back and singing up a storm. Her songs flow like a river and there’s no swimming against the current. Strangely the only glitch came with the encore– it broke the spell and the pace dropped but for most of the set we were enchanted.

Betty & the Werewolves are a four piece – a dapper drummer, Douglas, and three guitar girls Helen, Laura and Emily. They play fizzy 60s- and punk-inspired indiepop, nodding to the likes of Heavenly and the Shop Assistants. It’s played at a scorching pace, and all they need is to vary the pace a little within the set and then they’ll be killers. The music ended early (10.30pm) and much rug-cutting then ensued, but we shuffled out to leave the place to the cool couture of the Action Men and Action Women. Less a gig, this is a house party in the centre of London under the benign and stylish dictatorship of the wonderful Actionettes.

Links:
http://www.myspace.com/theactionettes