266: Republica, Islington Academy, London

It came as a bolt out of the blue when I heard that Republica had reformed and would be playing their first London gig for many years. I arranged a radio interview so met Saffron before the show and also had a chat with Tim and some of the other band members.



The gig itself picked up where they left off in 2000 – the band still providing a very tight rock/electronic sound and Saffron’s vocals were as strong as ever. The crowd seemed happy to be there too and there were quite a few celebrities in the crowd. (Probably shouldn’t mention I was standing next to Samantha Fox when I took some of these photos ...)



As well as a large smattering from their two albums, Republica and Speed Ballads, there were two new songs – Suck Baby Suck and Christiana Obey, the latter of which may be coming out as a release soon.



Also supporting were half-Billericay/half-Brighton electronic duo TENEK who've also appeared on Phoenix FM in the past. It was great to finally catch them live and their material went down equally well with the crowd who seemed familiar with quite a few of the songs! Tenek mixed Republica’s reissue of Ready To Go earlier this year and will be collaborating on future projects with them too.



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