Guerrilla Nature

Review of The Ruffs, Billo Buckers and The Vivas at Firebug, Leicester 2023-10-13

It was a stormy, blustery night in Leicester City centre and the streets seemed empty, save for the occasional figure scurrying along under an umbrella or huddling in a bus shelter.

Firebug was warm and inviting, although even this usually busy bar was more sparsely populated than would usually be the case on a Friday night.

Billo Buckers were milling about, swilling and chilling, before popping out with a few tickets to stride the sodden streets and see if any revellers could be tempted in at short notice ahead of the first set.

It was great to bump into Marlon, formerly of Off-Beat Reprobates, who has in the last year or so returned from living in Florida and has swiftly become reacquainted with the scene. He was on the way to a venue near St Martins Square where he now hosts the second Friday of each month.

The opportunity was taken to nip out for a smoke before returning to set up the recording kit. Nik was engineering the sound and was busy making the final checks. Attendees started to filter in, a few getting relatively settled on the dancefloor before the first set from Nottingham band The Ruffs.

What a tremendous performance they put on. Labelling by genre is often worth avoiding, as is describing acts in terms of how much they sound like other acts. However, to give an impression that is intended only in the most complimentary manner, it was like listening to a punk band who had been influenced by Radiohead, Oasis and The Prodigy. Great lyrics, which had huge amounts of depth to them. They were such good sports that they even invited this newly realised fan of theirs to join them on stage for the one instrumental track they played, following a bit of banter, which was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The musicianship was of a quality just as impressive as the vocals. The chaps from that band hung around to enjoy the rest of the show, too, joining the crowd that had developed from a few static pockets of drinkers to a slightly more abundant bunch of revellers. There are links for The Ruffs’ various pages at the bottom of this page.

Billo Buckers were also complimentary about The Ruffs as they took to the stage with the usual air of confidence, which was as well-founded as ever. With all the lyrical swag of a young Alex Turner in the and the quality of musicianship to back it up with just as much swing, they started with Where You’re From, for which there is a great lyric video on YouTube featuring some old footage of Leicester City centre from what looks like the late 1980’s, before playing their way through several classics including the forthcoming single It’ll Be Alright, also dropping a new composition called Plan B. Their set ended with Billy performing one solo acoustic track in support of World Mental Health Awareness Day, which happened only a few days before on 10^th October. Links to relevant info, as well as live video recordings of this and other tracks, are at the bottom of this page. By the time this set was finished, the mood was perfectly set for the Vivas. The crowd had started to fill the room out a little better and there was quite a bit more engagement from the attendees than earlier on.

The headline act certainly brought their A-game. However, it was only possible to half pay attention to their set. Part of the first few tracks was spent packing away kit, part was spent aiding communications between various parties upstairs, downstairs and outside, and part was spent persuading a very enthusiastic salesperson that his offer of a USB drive with music on was tempting but not so much so that it was convincing. Once all that was dealt with, it was possible to return to the room and enjoy some of The Vivas set… maybe half a track or so, at any rate… A man with whom previous interactions had involved remarking on the exceptional drumming during the first set (see above), dancing and encouraging others to do the same, and laughing about one of us having been invited on stage to dance because we got a bit cheeky (see above), had by this point decided that he did not require such an invitation. He had got up onto a low platform that had been left just in front of the stage (for all we know, perhaps for this very purpose) and was gyrating, flailing, jumping down to encourage people to join him, then jumping back up to continue gyrating and flailing. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. Once we were up there together, it was eventually possible to persuade him that the crowd would rather actually watch the band they had paid to see, who were doing a smashing job, than watch us frankly not dancing very well at all. By the time all that was dealt with, it was pretty much time to go home.

Must get out to see the Vivas at again at some point, they’re clearly very good and it was a pity that it was not possible to pay full attention to their set, as it deserved that at the very least! It would be great if they could play again with the same support but, regardless, would definitely go to see all of these acts separately anyway.

This was a great night out. Lots of those who bought tickets didn’t even get there, presumably because the weather was so awful, but those who did brought beautiful energy and made it tons of fun. If you see The Ruffs, Billo Buckers, or The Vivas on a lineup, they’re all well worthy of attention!

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