Hey Ocean and the Alvarez Kings helped a sold-out Slice celebrate Halloween, Oct. 31.
I arrived in the middle a sweet set from United Kingdom band the Alvarez Kings.
While they were dressed as ’80s cock rockers, complete with socks stuffed in spandex pants, their sound was Brit rock straight out of the’90s and early 2000s. They put on an energetic set of ambient, delay drenched rock reminiscent of bands like Blur with a touch of Oasis.
They had some catchy riffs a few nice vocal harmonies, some catchy riffs and were a lot of fun.
Most of the audience was there to hear the violent contrast— Hey Ocean. As usual, they had their feet firmly planted in the realms of pop music. They were dressed as circus characters, with lead singer Ashleigh Ball dressed as the ringmaster.
They had a plethora of catchy pop infused melodies, Ball concentrated on vocals rather than hiding behind keyboards as she usually does, but pulled out the flute for a couple songs as she chatted with the crowd clustered in front of the stage, shook a lot of hands and sang beautifully like No Doubt’s Gwen Stefani.
They added a touch of reggae as Ball talked about taking 12 hours to drive across Saskatchewan.
