The Bishops, The Luminaire, 16 September 2006

Why is there always a group of gangling giants half way to the front of the crowd at gigs? If you’re cheeky enough to squeeze past there’s often enough space to make some serious shapes in front of them.

This was certainly the case at The Luminaire on Saturday night where there were a good few metres to spare between the wall of onlookers and The Bishops.

The band were far from intimidating, twins Mike and Pete Bishop’s matching skinny black suits and mop-top hair cuts attracting cries of ‘John Lennon’ from confused Crimea fans waiting at the bar for the headliners. With wide eyes and toothy grins they looked more Prince William than John Lennon.

Their symbiotic relationship worked well as they played a tight set of snappy songs, heavily influenced by sixties bands particularly the Who and the Kinks.

They were let down a couple of times by their long haired nautical top wearing drummer Chris McConville who looked like he’d turned up on the wrong night to play with a Ramones tribute band.

Lead vocalist Mike seemed nervous when talking to the crowd but was exuberant when playing guitar, shaking his head more than Axel Rose in the shower with a new bottle of Timotei.

They gained confidence throughout their set, their new single ‘Higher Now’ proving popular and finally encouraging some of the 20-something trendies to make show best mod dance moves in all that space.

For their finale of ‘She Said Bye Bye’, Pete slid onto his knees and Mike jumped off the stage to play guitar in the crowd - all very choreographed but quite amusing.

The Bishops won’t revolutionise the music scene- their idols did that forty years ago. They’re unlikely to lead a mod revival but they will remain an entertaining act to watch on the small gig circuit.