The Go! Team are a six-piece rock band hailing from Bristol who have been active since 2000 and have released 5 critically acclaimed albums with an eclectic blend of indie-pop and alternative dance music. Their latest album ‘Semicircle’ is their first in three years and is the follow up to 2015’s ‘The Scene Between’ – the album has received general praise from critics and fans alike and for the promotion of this new material, the band have embarked on a nationwide tour including visits to Rough Trade in Bristol, The Wardrobe in Leeds and (of course) to Gorilla in Manchester.
Their energy and unmistakable presence on stage was apparent from start-to-finish, with all six members of the band employing everything within their power to produce an eye-catching, enjoyable and vibrant atmosphere. As they moved their way through the new album, the crowd was noticeably sheepish, although the fact that many patrons were not entirely familiar with the band’s new songs did very little to dampen the mood as the band members used their high school cheerleader vibe to fuel feelings of carefree enjoyment that permeated throughout the crowd. The album’s leading track ‘Mayday’ was a personal highlight that figuratively launched the crowd into a pop-fueled frenzy with most members of the audience bopping along to their feel-good, Morse code-esque jams.
Led by their frontwoman Ninja, The Go! Team are an example of a band who incorporate theatrical performance into their sets, with Ninja herself ducking, diving and weaving across the stage like a boxer as she punched her way through a variety of old-school hip-hop beats. The live brass section that accompanied the band on this European tour only improved the quality of sound and provided the audience with yet another facet of musicianship to tap into which in turn expanded the band’s thematic reach, flirting with enough genres to leave even the most stubborn of music fans with something to grasp onto.
All in all, it was an eye-catching and genuinely enthralling experience watching The Go! Team own the Gorilla stage, their athleticism, energy and general understanding of a plethora of different musical arrangements, genres and sounds is both incredibly refreshing and unique. They have an engaging frontwoman in Ninja who did extraordinarily well to connect with the audience and provide an atmosphere that any fan of live music could appreciate and enjoy. I eagerly await their next project and ponder over which genres they could tackle next.
SEMICIRCLE is out now, via Memphis Industries
