On Easter Sunday most people are hunting for eggs. We went hunting for Cabbage instead
To describe Cabbage's debut album Nihilistic Glamour Shots as hotly anticipated feels like selling it short somewhat. For the last couple of years, they have been playing gigs all around the country, building up excitement with their high-energy, anti-establishment songs with catchy choruses. After a number of EPs and even a touch of controversy, the album has finally dropped and the band have come along to Rough Trade to celebrate.
The album opens with Preach To The Converted and so does the set played to a room full of people who had to purchase the album to get in. While it may be a choice that's a tad obvious, no-one complains if The Rolling Stones open with Start Me Up. Molotov Alcopop sounds a little like The 80's Matchbox B-Line Disaster while Exhibit A is slower, their nearest thing to a ballad but it's still angry at "Nigel". Current single Postmodernist Caligula gets an airing before the two touchstones of the album, Obligatory Castration and Reptile State Funeral, are played back to back.
Having played a good chunk of their new album, they introduce the last couple of songs as a “couple of golden oldies”. Necroflat In The Palace is still probably the best distillation of the band's ethos - it's pro-NHS, anti-royal family, it has an anger at the state of the nation but "I was born in the NHS, I wanna die in the NHS" is one of the best singalong refrains of recent years. It gets the best crowd reaction of the evening. In a Lionel Richie style, the band request that everyone "keep buying the album, once, twice, three times an album" before kicking off into set closer Uber Capitalist Death Trade.
Cabbage's debut album Nihilistic Glamour Shots is available now
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
