Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
Where ever you were on Sunday 20th September at a certain point in time it’s very doubtful you were being treated to a possible golden future for Rock in the same way that the crowd at District were being shown. Visions can come, dreams of greatness may go but somehow something every so often comes around and marks itself out as being so tantalising, so big, that a stage might not dare be able to hold it for long.
The District Crowd, having settled in for the long haul, were given the splendid opportunity to relish in the company of the superb Sky Valley Mistress and their swaggering style of pomp and ceremony mixed with high octane lyrics and performance.
There have been many great young bands to pass through the doors of District and its previous incarnations before but it may be a struggle for some to remember the last time such a band took to the stage and blew it to smithereens, that took the vocal brutality on offer and with passion metaphorically took a sledgehammer to the boards and offered them a gift to the gods of heavy Rock to use as matchsticks to light the fire under the apathy of Government and the uncaring.
Sky Valley Mistress were on fire, they cultivated a scene in which the music was played with heavy guns firing and the battle joined, especially in the demeanour of Kayley Davies who bombarded the air around her with subtle charm and the grace of a goliath beating new comers and pretenders with her enticing, tormenting and teasing vocals and the stance of a new regal queen installed upon the throne vacated by the likes of Robert Plant.
With tracks such as Smoke Fairy, The Days of the Lion, It Won’t Stop, You’ve Got Nothin’ and the storming Dirty Blonde Blues all gathering momentum and truth of Rock performance in their wake, the crowd at District were given the sweetest of glances of what is hopefully and surely a band that can give musical adrenaline shots out within each pulsating guitar lick and bone beating drum flair.
It is flair and confidence that makes a band look and sound so good on stage and in Sky Valley Mistress, flair and confidence, enshrined within passion and ability, are all that is needed to know, this is a band of solid guts and smashing times ahead.
Ian D. Hall