Gig review: Crying Nut play the Mean Fiddler

What can one say about Crying Nut? Anarchic, mad, joyous. They opened the 2006 London Korean Festival last night in great style.

While most of the audience was Korean, it was good to see some unaccompanied westerners at the gig, who seemed to be enjoying the show. Maybe they were there to support the backup band, who were mainly British but with a Korean bassist, but they stuck around for the Nuts. Many of the numbers performed were familiar to loyal fans, and can be found on the CD Crying Nut Best Wild Wild Live, and hearing these songs live is something special. There wasn’t a weak spot in the set, from the opening number to the closing. One of their specialities is the sudden change of tempo in the middle of a song. It’s a very liberating experience. The band has great stage presence — particularly the accordion player (accordion? In a punk band? Well, it works) Kim In-su, who spends the spare time in between numbers combing his slicked-back hair. My only complaint was that the set ended too soon. Everyone could have done with a lot more.

Anyway thanks to Tae-min and all the others involved in organising this, and to Samsung for the funding.

As a footnote, I got home just in time for the voting in the Eurovision song contest. A group of orcs had escaped from Tolkein’s Middle Earth wearing 8-inch high platform shoes, and scored an easy victory for Finland. Nowhere near as good as the Nuts, but then there’s never much competition in Eurovision. Truth is stranger than fiction.