Matt Lloyd- 6/2001 - The Appleseed Cast at The Victoria Inn, Derby, England.

The Victoria Inn is making quite a name for itself in attracting the big names. Having already seen the likes of Snow Patrol and Appleseed Cast, in the coming months they will be housing Brandtson and Planes Mistaken For Stars too. Its a small venue but excellent for live band performances and great atmospheres.
Having set up there gear, the band introduced themselves as the boys from Kansas. They were unsure on how to pronounce the name Derby and toyed with the crowd for a few minutes, before starting the gig with a performance of 'Fishing the Sky'. An excelllent start, the band  had quickly established themselves with the people who hadn't heard them. For the fans though the brilliance of the Appleseed was not in question. Next was crowd favourite 'Forever Longing The Golden Sunsets', a song that was met with great approval from everyone. Criscis emotive screaming twinned with Cobra's awesome drumming set the small venue on fire, recieving prolonged applause from everyone. Despite constant shouts for 'Marigold and Patchwork' , the band laughed it off and stuck to 'Mare Vitalis' and new songs from 'Low Level Owl : Volume One.' Despite hardly anyone knowing 'Steps and Numbers', it still got the crowd hooked and eager for more, this is a great song live.
Im not entirely sure but  i think they played 'Secret' next. They did play it but i cant remember the exact order in which they came. The whole set lasted around 45/50 minutes. They also played 'Blind Mans Arrow' from the new album and 'Poseidon', before unplugging their equipment. This was met with chants of 'more, more, more' however from the crowd, and after checking the time and giving themselves ten more minutes, the band played an awesome 10 minute encore of 'Storms'. What really impressed me here was Cobra on the drums for about 3 minutes after Aaron and Chris had stopped playing the guitar, and producing sound effects with there foot pedals and effects box. This really was an unbelievable finale, a great end to a great set.
At the gigs, the band themselves sell there CD's and t-shirts really cheap, an excellent bonus. I picked up the Hundred Hands project 'Little Eyes' and the new Appleseed Cast album 'Low Level Owl : Volume One.' for hardly anything. The support for the band was also excellent. Local Derby band 'Rusk' kicked off the procedings with a great set. UK band 'Kids Near Water' followed with another excellent performance, their debut EP 'extended player one' is a must have. But Sometree impressed me the most, enough for me to buy there new album ' Sold heart to the One' that night. This really was an brilliant album and i look forward to hearing more from them. The Appleseed Cast however stole the night with an awesome show of emotive singing and rip-roaring instrumentation. I cant wait for there next visit to England.