{"id":24378,"date":"2024-02-27T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=24378"},"modified":"2024-02-25T22:32:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-25T22:32:02","slug":"fizz-maya-delilah-tramshed-cardiff-23rd-february-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=24378","title":{"rendered":"FIZZ\/Maya Delilah \u2013 Tramshed, Cardiff \u2013 23rd<\/sup> February 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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Rewind to Christmas 2023 and RPM\u2019s Albums Of The Year podcasts. During the second broadcast when the gang were running through Ben Hughes\u2019 album list, he advised us all of a record called \u2018The Secret To Life\u2019 by a still relatively new band called FIZZ, which in his wise words, told us all \u201cyou\u2019ll love this Johnny, its very Jellyfish like powerpop\u201d. I of course immediately needed to know more as Ben certainly knows his stuff, so with Google at hand I went on a musical adventure to discover what the hell he was raving on about and after a couple of false starts (I rather foolishly watched the videos before listening to the album) I finally started to understand, and love \u2018The Secret To Life\u2019. It\u2019s an album that truly transcends genres (hence why watching the videos first wasn\u2019t exactly the best way to get to know them) and oozes positivity, and it\u2019s safe to say if I had known back then what I know now, it would have plain sailed into the number 1 spot in my own albums of the year 2023. The rather obvious next step on my journey of musical discovery being to experience what the four members of the band (Greta Isaac, Orla Gartland, Martin Luke Brown and dodie) would do with such an extraordinary record in the live setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m apparently not alone in my quest either, as tonight the downstairs in the Tramshed is packed out, filled mainly with a much younger demographic than yours truly, a large contingent also dressed up in some way to resemble tonight\u2019s headliners, and you know what, for the first time in years I feel like I\u2019m experiencing something new and exciting scene wise. The PA might be blasting out Andrew Gold, ELO and Boney M (making it feel a bit like I\u2019m back at one of my old school discos) but FIZZ and their community of fans are very much about how you can bin all the negativity in life here in 2024 and simply just enjoy yourself, and that right there is exactly what going to a live show should be all about.<\/p>\n\n\n

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There\u2019s a stark contrast to some of the other audiences I\u2019ve been in most recently, as not only have I\u2019ve never seen the bar area quieter in the Tramshed, but also during the support set by singer\/songwriter Maya Delilah there is a hushed reverence and respect for the artiste from the audience that is a model example of how one should behave during a solo show. And why shouldn\u2019t there be, you\u2019ve paid your hard earned to get in, so sit back (or stand back, in tonight\u2019s case) and immerse yourself in a world outside of your own, you\u2019ll never know what you might discover. As it happens Maya Delilah delivers a fine 30-minute set that in equal measure has me thinking of Pink Floyd (guitar tone) Jeff Buckley (in the dissonance of the songwriting) and early Amy Winehouse (in the vocal delivery), the later almost coincidently the last time I witnessed someone being told to \u201cshut the fuck up\u201d during a live show for talking during her set. There\u2019s no need for any such warnings tonight though as Maya seems genuinely blown away by the respect and reaction she is afforded and I for one shall be looking to join her 300,000 monthly listeners online to find out more.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Looking at the stage set up complete with larger than life lollipops and candy canes and a backdrop not to dissimilar to the \u2018Bellybutton\u2019 album sleeve, part of me wants FIZZ to appear on stage in their own mode of transport just like the Banana Splits did when they first wowed me into loving pop music, and to some degree they do just this, albeit via the power of imagination as we are treated to an intro tape that has us all onboard a space ship set for Fizzvile just as its about to crash land in Cardiff, as the countdown commences I find myself grinning from ear to ear and that\u2019s before the band (complete with additional rhythm section) have even played a single note. Bursting onto the stage like all conquering heroes the screams that go up remind me of when I saw King back in 1985 and you\u2019ll have to forgive me if I get something in my eye as \u2018High In Brighton\u2019 literally takes the roof off the place.<\/p>\n\n\n

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For the next 60 plus minutes we are treated to pretty much all the band\u2019s stellar debut album, a carefully selected track from each of the four members solo careers (which fit in seamlessly)   along with a FIZZ\u2019ed up cover of Lily Allen\u2019s \u2018Smile\u2019 and the time I spend in the band\u2019s company simply flies by, largely in part due to the fact that the band themselves look like they are loving every second of their time up on stage, and its infectious, you know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Highlights are plentiful, but for me it is main set closer \u2018The Grand Finale\u2019 in all of it\u2019s Queen-like pomposity that illustrates just how talented this group really are, and then of course there\u2019s the encore of the album\u2019s title track complete with a bubble gun, a cat glove puppet and Thomas The Tank Engine outro tape to send us all of into the night not so much wondering what we\u2019d just experienced as what an experience it was. If FIZZ had existed in the \u201870s, trust me, they would have had their own TV show, they are that kind of band, one much larger than life itself and the fact that they have tapped into the secret of this is what makes it all so bloody perfect. Tonight was the most I\u2019ve enjoyed myself at a gig in years, and all I had to do was be in the moment. Joyous stuff!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rewind to Christmas 2023 and RPM\u2019s Albums Of The Year podcasts. During the second broadcast when the gang were running through Ben Hughes\u2019 album list, he advised us all of a record called \u2018The Secret To Life\u2019 by a still relatively new band called FIZZ, which in his wise words, told us all \u201cyou\u2019ll love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[1787,1710,1681,1680,1701,1833],"class_list":["post-24378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tcb","tag-tourlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24378"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24384,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24378\/revisions\/24384"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}