I’d like to open this with the line, “The Lounge Kittens sequinned their way on to the stage,” but it doesn’t sound right, using ‘sequinned’ as a verb, does it? It should do, especially given the abundance of sequins shimmering and glimmering in the disco-balled light of King’s Heath’s Hare & Hounds tonight. And as if to top the sequins, they immediately launch into their cover of DJ Fresh’s ‘Gold Dust’. But it’s not the shimmery shine of the sequins or the seductive glow of dusted gold that holds the attention, it’s witnessing the three kittens hopping, skipping, leapfrogging and jumping in, out and through many a merry and melancholy melody and coming together in happy, heartbroken and holy-moly-did-you-hear-that harmonies of close-on 70 songs compressed in to just over an hour that’s gobsmacking. And hilarious. But not just because the Kittens lace every instance of their set with humour, but because of the amount of heavy metal t-shirt-clad people singing along to songs that they probably couldn’t give a shit about were they not dressed up in such gloriously sequinned fashion by this band.
A pop punk medley taking in tracks by Good Charlotte, Fall Out Boy, Sum 41, The Offspring, and plenty more is followed by System of a Down’s ‘Violent Pornography’ before Pink Kitten confesses her ‘All Night Long’ love for Lionel Richie. And chuckle and guffaw and spray those unfortunate enough to stand in front of us with beer we did as they plowed through The Bloodhound Gang’s innuendo-laced ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo’. Naughty. But nice. What else could you follow this with other than a medley of cartoon theme tunes? Transformers, Gummi Bears, Thundercats, Mask, The Real Ghostbusters and many more bring many a smile to the face of many a 80s/90s child in attendance tonight.
But it’s not all smiles and laughter. With mental health increasingly hitting the headlines in recent times, the band take a moment to discuss their own struggles and the loss of Chester Bennington and Keith Flint before moving into their Avicii medley followed by their Prodigy medley, ‘Smack My Firestarter to Outer Space’. This, I suspect, was the most challenging part of the show for the Kittens to write, it could so easily have gone wrong, a badly chosen word or phrase could have got them into some deep water, but they were respectful and celebratory, even managing to stick ‘Cheerleader’ in between the two medleys and follow it up with ‘Love Walked In’ by Thunder and ‘Glory Hole’ by Steel Panther. Outstanding. That just left Limp Bizkits’ ‘Rollin’ and a massive medley – the ‘Bangers Medley’ – of 15 tracks from the likes of Queen, Quo, Reef, Rainbow, Heart, The ‘Oo, Cher, and many more to close out the evening.
The Lounge Kittens are a covers band. But they’re a covers band like no other. On record, they’re great, their take on each song is outstanding (Metallica’s ‘Sad But True’ ain’t so sad when the Kittens get hold of it). On stage, that’s where they truly stand out, that’s where you can see the work they put into their recordings and into their shows. Musically, they are remarkable. Especially the guitar solos. I’m yet to see anyone do better with pursed lips and a finger (oo-er…). And they’re so funny! I don’t think I saw anyone not smiling throughout the show. And I suspect those smiles will linger long, turning only to frowns with the realisation that we have to wait for the next show. But that’s just like a bloody cat though isn’t it, showing up whenever it feels like it…
Witnessed by Jason Guest
I’m not typing up the set list. That’ll take ages. But I would recommend you check it out over at set-list.fm (it’s their fault if it’s wrong) and then kick yourself if you didn’t go to see them on this tour. There really is no excuse…
