The NME New Bands Tour rolled into London, on its final night. Four of the best (or at least most-hyped) new bands in Britain, at the Electric Ballroom in Camden, a venue with a very useful balcony.
First on the bill were The Long Blondes, a band who recently ruined their reputation as "Britain's best unsigned band", by signing a record deal after lots of courting. With a photogenic lead singer, they certainly seem to have a strong image, mainly through the clothes they wear. The music was "good", but probably not much better than that - some songs were obvious standouts, but I think I'd need to know their songs much better before I could really enjoy them live.
Forward Russia were next up, and I have to say I thought they were terrible! Although a couple of songs were vaguely interesting, much of the set sounded far too much like a wall of unfocussed noise. Many of the songs sounded very similar, and they also ran into each other rather a lot. Their matching t-shirts are all very nice, but the music reminded me of bands I used to watch in very small local venues when I was 16. Some of the kids at the front were going mad, but I just felt like I'd seen this kind of band too many times before.
The Automatic were my band of the night, by far. I'd seen them before a few months ago and not been too impressed, but I'm happy to eat my words now - they were a different, and completely better band tonight. They had the crowd from the word go, their keyboardist was possibly the most mental band member I have seen for a long time, and they seem to have the songs to do very well at the festivals this summer. 4 songs in particular had the crowd jumping - first single Recover, last single Raoul, next single Monster, and the crowd favourite Rats. All one-word titles, all uncomplicated enough, simple indie-pop songs, and a band that are tightly accomplished at playing them very well. Monster will be one of the big indie hits of this summer, I am convinced.
Headliners for the evening, and the tour, were Boy Kill Boy. I had heard their singles, but not much else, their last single Suzie being a very good track by any standards. Unfortunately for me, that was the undoubted highlight of their set. The rest all seemed very much like little variation on the same (pop, heavily influenced by Duran Duran and The Killers) theme. OK, so they aren't as bad as The Bravery, but that is little achievement. It could be because I like rockier music with more guitars, but it all seemed too poppy, a little clean-cut, and just a bit tame for my liking. They filmed the video for their new single tonight, and the singer ended by jumping into the crowd - that was as edgy as they got. Quite tight, technically good, but a but same-y for me.
Battle of the Bands? A resounding victory to The Automatic as far as I'm concerned!
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