Bournemouth iBar
I was playing host to a few friends and family that had come down to watch Tellison, so I wasn’t able to watch all the bands that were on offer, and managed to completely miss Let’s Go Safari (sorry!) but I thought I would offer up my views on what I did see. I arrived as Daniel and The Lion were setting up and I was intrigued to see all manner of instruments being taken to the stage.
As well as the standard guitars, drums and so forth, there was a harmonium, a trumpet, a cello and a banjo, so I was a little confused when only five people took to the stage. Turns out Daniel and his friends are damn good at multi-tasking. The frontman was playing guitar, harmonium, and occasionally the banjo, the guitarist was also playing trumpet and occasionally harmonium and all members of the band were involved with the singing.
The most obvious comparison of their sound would be to the likes of Mumford and Sons with the clear folk influence and occasionally haunting vocals. I was also reminded of early Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly at times due to the trumpet and thought-provoking lyrics. All those instruments did seem to get a bit complicated at times, especially for the first few songs, when sound problems led to awkward gaps having to be filled with some excessive thanks to the audience. Still, it’s always nice to be appreciated.Once they got past this, and the obvious initial nerves began to fade, things definitely picked up, especially when the banjo got involved. You can always to rely on a banjo to get things going.
When they finished, I headed off to Inferno to conduct a semi-impromptu interview with Stephen Davidson, lead vocalist of Tellison. A bar is perhaps not the best place to conduct an interview on a Friday night, but it was either that or the back of the Tellison tour van, which didn’t sound quite as tempting. However Inferno came up trumps with a combination of comfy sofas, and music at a level that was enjoyable, not deafening and the results of the chat we had can be seen 
Gallery:01
Tellison have only played in Bournemouth once before back in 2008, they were the first band to ever headline iBar, so they seemed genuinely surprised to see some fans here tonight singing every word to every song. Stephen’s gratitude to the crowd was apparent, and he clearly meant it when he was thanking them for their support, which is something you don’t see often enough. After playing much of the new album, they finished with a few older songs that were met with a fervent reaction and even some crowd surfing which was very impressive in such a small room! Marvellous stuff. This is a band that deserves to be moving towards the heady heights of stardom and I really hope I see them get there.
Set List
Get On
Wasp’s Nest
Vermont
Say Silence (Heaven and Earth)
Disaster! Disaster!
Freud Links the Teeth and the Heart
Collarbone
Rapture
Gallery
Tell It To Thebes
Horses
Henry Went To Paris
Edith
Hanover Start Clapping
http://www.letsgosafari.co.uk
http://www.danielandthelion.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/theattikastate
http://www.tellison.co.uk
Words by Sarah Lovegrove.
