The Scroggins sisters who have, in one incarnation or another, made up New York’s art funk pioneers ESG for the last 35 years, claimed this UK tour to promote a new album due in November to be their last.
This was also their first time in Brighton, and as the evening wore on, they certainly seemed more and more ecstatic to be in town and on stage. Starting with You’re No Good, before a devastatingly danceable Dance, their sound was sinuous, fluid and perfectly balanced in the Haunt’s nooks and crannies throughout the evening.
Aided by bongos that carried the splintering counter rhythms perfectly and an occasionally inexplicable male dancer with hilariously tiny glow sticks, the five-piece never once failed to engage with the most primal dancing impulses of the crowd, despite the early curfew.
Even the newer material, such as Strange Creatures Dance from 2012’s Closure album, which rounded off the main set, proved that the girls still knew exactly how to hit the sweet spot. In light of such revelations, the audience left hoping it was not to be goodbye forever, many after waiting so long to see them.
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