The Tickets have an interesting retro style thing going on but manage to throw in some genuine, hard-faced jamming into their works which then gives them into a great contemporary feel. With two decent vocalists often harmonizing with a clean 60's feel and their use of bright, clean chords they really did have that naive Beatles-esque feel. But, not afraid to push the boundaries, they suddenly turned things around with some really impressive and classy contemporary reggae beats interwoven with jazzy jamming grooves. With frontman Andy Robinson switching from guitar to keys the whole essence of their sound was instantly changed. Their original material was crisp and often unusual with bits of country and dirty swamp creeping in occasionally. It's The Tickets' ability and nerve to pull off this free-form stuff that will set them apart from many of their more traditionally retro contemporaries.
Robinson is a great frontman; animated and really cool looking he performed with confidence and guts. The second guitar/vocalist often looked a little uneasy and less confident but still managed to hold it all together pretty well. Bass and drums held a mean groove allowing the two frontmen to do their thing pretty much as they pleased.
For me, all that was lacking here was gigging experience, confidence and self-belief. With a few more gigs under their belts these guys will begin to knit together to become a tight and exciting unit and no doubt begin to reap their rewards.
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