GIG REVIEW: Smells like Elvana in the Limelight

24th January 2018 admin

As the snow flies, on a cold and snowy Belfast night, a great little band was playing in the Limelight. Or to put it more bluntly, Elvana, the Elvis fronted Nirvana act had come to town.

Now, this is a thing that should not be. It sounds so wrong. But if you ever see them then you know it was a stroke of absolute genius. And boy does it work.

The band is such an amalgam of twisted weirdness weaving together an absolute plethora of tightly knitted musicality no one can leave their presence without having their mind blown away. And on this particular night, this king fronted band held court in the Limelight and brought pure joy to everyone there.

The vocalist looks like a Kurt Cobain haired Nicholas Cage from Honeymoon in Vegas with the vocabulary of Samuel L Jackson. The rest of the group look like they have just walked of the set of the video for ‘Lump’ by the Presidents of the USA.

Onto the stage they strutted like they owned the place. And for those few precious hours, they truly did.

After some perfectly timed joshing with the crowd, they blasted all the cobwebs out of everyone’s head smashing into ‘Aneurism’, ‘Radio Friendly Unit Shifter’ before totally screwing with everyone’s perception of reality by expertly combining Breed and Viva Las Vegas. It really was a thing of beauty to behold and the crowd loved it from the moment Elvana stepped onto the Limelight 2 stage.

‘Drain You’, ‘School’, ‘In Bloom’, ‘Sliver’ and ‘Been a Son’ kept the momentum going of one of the greatest shows on earth. Elvana have such a cheeky, glint in the eye, energy that is completely infectious, with everyone there being coaxed and encouraged to singing along. This was a band that knew how to play with the audience. Then came the one everyone had been anticipating, ‘Smells like teen spirit’, which had the whole place jumping and grunging with utter joy and abandonment. And even better for the crowd – this was the first time Elvana had played it live. This was truly lapped up by everyone, being at a very special gig only to be told it had become an exceptional experience as they were there when it was played for the first time.

Then ‘Rape me’ transmogrified into ‘Love me Tender’ as the vocalist came into audience much to their absolute delight. They then flooded the place with a wondrous cacophony of ‘Lithium’ before delivering once more a full audience participation performance of ‘I can’t help (Falling in love with you)/Heart Shaped Box. Grunge Elvis walked in messianic adoration amongst his loyal followers as, whilst still singing, he posed for selfies. He has his social media/viral head screwed on right. Again they stoke up the place in ecstasy once more by indulging the adoring crowd with a fantastic combination of ‘Territorial Pissings’ and ‘Suspicious minds’ and finished off with ‘Come as you are’.

Their encore set was ‘Blew’, ‘On a plain’, ‘All apologies’ and ‘The man who sold the world’

This band do not mess about by standing on stage away from the crowd. This is full on interactive entertainment as they seem to mischievously wink at you that it’s all just a bit of fun and you are all in on the joke.

Without a doubt, seeing Elvana should be on your bucket list.