Breaking the Illusion @ TTS, HiFi Leeds 03/08/07

Published by Chris August 4th, 2007 in Live Reviews, Local.

The Teatime Shuffle is becoming an integral part of the Leeds Music Machine, its been running for the past 3 years putting on live music every first Friday of the month. The Teatime Shuffle has played host to many up and coming Leeds acts and it really is becoming a must play gig for any aspiring band.

I was here for one reason only tonight, to review Breaking the Illusion. The band is made up of Tom (vocals), Olly (guitar), Al (bassist) and new boy Steve (Drums). As the band takes to the stage the audience make their way to the front as the host introduces them. Fresh from a stint at Glastonbury this summer we knew that we were going to witness something exciting.

The band take us through a roller-coaster of rapping, riffs, bouncing reggae and funk as they rock the crowd at every opportunity. With Tom one of the most energetic front men I’ve seen in years. BTI have the whole crowd bouncing with their fusion of heavy beats and cross genre rhythms. The first two tracks get the crowd bouncing with a great version of “Never in a Million”. The set moves on and the reggae in-fused “Mr Bouncer” rings out in the club, the crowd sing along and there is some great scratchy guitar from Olly and elasticated bass from Al as they put the crowd through their paces.

The energy is built up as we are taken into the highly powered “Sweet Talk” such a high energy performance with some amazing riffs as the fully loaded grime/rock power hits you at one hundred miles per hour. “Can you Feel it?” shouts Tom over and over until he jumps in the crowd and a great guitar solo has the crowd jumping up and down, going wild. I really think this track should be released as a single it has the energy to make it onto just about anyone’s iPod or CD player.

The performance from Breaking the Illusion tonight went down really well and the band looked comfortable together. Tom has the stage presence to fill a bigger stage than he was given tonight too, oh and before I forget I was reminded by the band to be their myspace friend and if you missed them tonight don’t worry they’ll be doing it all over again on the dates below…

7th September, Woodhouse Liberal Club, Leeds

11th October, Leeds By Example, Hi-Fi, Leeds

Technorati Tags: hip hop, Breaking The Illusion, Leeds, TTS