The night started with my photo pass being restricted, annoying, as a photographer. So as I sat in the epic Arts Club Theatre, I wondered what the night had in store from this unusual sounding band, GoGo Penguin.

Hailing from Manchester, this jazz trio released their first album Fanfares in 2012 and have since released 2 more albums and have even got themselves a Mercury Price. Now they take on Liverpool in the beautiful venue of the Arts Club Theatre, an apt choice.

But first we had the opening act, Deliah, who played a fantastic half an hour set to a presently small crowd. Deliah proved themselves to be a very capable band, playing a great mix of initiative classical R&B soulful songs with the powerful voice of the lead singer, Michelle Harris, the band tried a ill-fated attempt to the audience singing, though the crowd certainly enjoyed them. Nonetheless, we respect them for trying and for giving a flawless half an hour set, preparing perfectly for the main event.

So after a half an hour gap, the stage traded a bass guitar for a double bass and GoGo Penguin took the stage and spared no time getting into it with an eerie, yet elegant couple of opening songs then the band introduced themselves. First watching GoGo Penguin is strange, having seen the other acts of LMW, Go Go are a vast, but great, contrast to the rest of the other shows.

The juxtaposition of going from the busy indie-rock-pop hits of the rest of the week, to a relaxed, laid back instrumental jazz of GoGo is a really refreshing feeling.

The fact that a band nowadays can play a non-lyrical jazz inspired set, with a grand piano, double bass and drums, and still keep a audience entertained and lively, is a real testament to the ability of GoGo Penguin. The band all work together as a perfect three piece item, combining pulsing bass lines with intricate piano melodies and technical electronica inspired drum riffs to create a wholly unique sound that simply works and shows us a side to music that we don’t often see any more and the sight of a sold out room of respectfully silent people being taken on a spiritual journey of a mix of classical, jazz and self proclaimed ‘acoustic electronica’ which I think is a perfect description for this triplet.

At the end of the night I left feeling utterly speechless, my only wish being that I could have more then an hour and ten minutes listening to this amazing band. GoGo Penguin are certainly a band to check out and be blown away by.

Our photography was restricted for this event. Featured image is for press.