Magnificent Seven at The Fulford Arms 13/01/2017 [Live Review]

Local genre terrorists Magnificent Seven have curated an evening of their favourite local music to celebrate the release of their debut EP, The Good The Bad & The Drunk, which in all honesty, has taken far too long to come to light. The good thing though, is that it’s out now.

Harrison Rimmer started the evening, blasting through a set of noisy acoustic grunge-pop. He’s on top form tonight too, and as usual, Ripped Up Magazine is a particular highlight.

Next up were The Sex Cripples. I think they’re supposed to be a comedy act, but unfortunately, they’re not funny. I felt like I was witnessing an in-joke that I wasn’t part of. The comedy aspect was lacking and the music aspect was equally as bad. One of them had a helmet with a dildo attached to it on at one point. What a knobhead. The name The Sex Cripples isn’t ok either.

Local pop-punkers On The Ropes were up next. Over the past few years, OTR have slowly become one of the best live bands in York. Their set was full of catchy songs, loads of energy and singalongs from the audience. Just as they were kicking into their best song, These Days, the power cut out, leaving front-man Jonny Gill to tell a joke. I can’t remember what it was, but it was probably awful.

Despite great sets from On The Ropes and Harrison Rimmer, this was Magnificent Seven’s night. Despite booking them for quite a few support slots over the last couple of years, I’ve always considered them a headline band, and tonight they showed exactly why. Infront of a packed venue they played a riotous set of original songs and a couple of great covers; Lose Yourself by Eminem and Survivor by Destiny’s Child. Sadly, this was trombone player Laurence’s last show with the band, so their version of Empty Barstools, a song originally from his solo project, Tang, had it’s final outing tonight.

Now that the EP has finally been released, who knows where Magnificent Seven will go now. They’ve always had people singing along at shows despite never having any recorded music available, so the sky is clearly the limit for them now!