The Ram Jam club in Kingston is a nice little space, although it has a grand entrance, tonight access seems to be via the restaurant where there is no signage at all which is slightly odd. Once inside one wall is plastered with album covers, while another is covered with 12 inch platters presumably that they once contained. To the side of the stage is an old wooden piano and a large ornament of Betty Boop for reasons unknown!
A little under a week ago we saw Fifth Floor at the Roundup at Gail’s Kitchen in front of a dedicated set of hardcore UK country fans, such was the impression that the new material had, we thought it would be interesting to see how it and they fared playing to an audience hearing and seeing them for the first time. Tonight, was a charity show, containing 5 or 6 bands with a comedian MC and Fifth Floor were there to get things started with a bang or as much of a bang as two acoustic guitars can provide.
The audience were mainly workers from a local company and looked like they had been attacking the bar since clocking off time, some had even brought their dogs along! So it was to a somewhat boisterous crowd that Fifth Floor took to the stage, but they were soon won over by the sheer exuberance of the chorus on the opener “These Days”. There was even immediate unsolicited clapping for the second song “You’re Still Ugly With My Glasses Off” as they once again proved themselves to be Queens of the infectious chorus!
A second chance to hear “The Girl”, one of their slower songs, gave us the chance to pick out a few more snippets of lyrics and confirmed our view that this will be a big song on the forthcoming album. There’s a lot packed into that three minutes.
There was not to be a let up in pace for long, and it was soon time to get some more audience interaction with their latest single “Sipping On A Coke” before closing out with a song that could easily have been dedicated to most of the audience “Drink It Away” from their debut EP, which saw a lovely combination of cross harmonies.
It was great to see their ability to interact with a lively crowd and more than hold their own while still putting on a quality performance. They are currently in negotiations to arrange a date for their album launch, it should be a very special event.