| This was my first gig in Dublin Castle, Camden – and Bug Bear had lined up four acts for the evening… The opening act from Australia, via LA, was Katie Cole. Given her recent Radio 2 air time with tracks from her current EP Lost Inside A Moment  and upcoming appearance on Aled Jones Sunday morning show I’d have expected her to be headlining the show! As the open act Katie was given the time for a full set – with a lesson to learn – in a dark venue, under gig lighting don’t right your set list with a pencil… There is something about the female Australian vocals that seams just right for upbeat pop – with Kylie currently holding my personal “queen of pop” position, I’ll add Katie as another member of the next generation of Australian female singer/songwriters that might via for that title in the future… |
| Replacement of Katie’s acoustic guitar with the electric ones belonging to the next act, Stumble, seamed a better fit or the venue – and they soon filled the venue with guitar based rock – some of the songs made me think of Coldplay. |  |
 | The evening continued in a similar vein with We All Play Synth* *None of them play synths… With a mixture of genres, sometimes within the same song they added grunge and metal to a base of guitar based rock – all with great enthusiasm and a great way of ordering drinks from the audience – wallet thrown into them and pin added to the lyrics… |
Closing the night were Vedanta, and again there was a similarity to Coldplay – the most polished of the three “rock” acts. Magic Is Within the Present is their current album. It is a shame the audience wasn’t bigger – as I left I was a little surprised that the front of the venue was fairly full of people apparently oblivious to the live music yards away they could have been listening. There is a lot of competition in space of male bands with 2 or three guitars and a drummer – standing out from that crowd is hard – tonight We All Play Synth stood out because of their enthusiasm and Vedanta because of their polish. |  |
By the end of the evening having Katie as the opening act made complete sense – her pop sound was an “upper” before the louder and sometime melancholy sounds of Stumble, We All Play Synth and Vedanta. I’m looking forward to hearing Katie Backstage at the Spice of Life – a lighter venue, a little more friendly to an artist playing solo without a band to help fill a darker space.
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