The first band on after I arrived were The Metros, a band about whom I had heard lots - not least that they were thrown off The Coral's tour for bad behaviour recently. Friends that had seen them were impressed, so I was keen to see what they were like. When they came on stage, Jo Whiley introduced them, and said that they were nervous about playing what was a very different type of set for them. They seemed to have a decent group of fans towards the front of the venue though, who were providing very good support.The Metros set was a fairly short one at around 20 minutes, but what I saw was really impressive. The 2 singers were clapping in the absence of any drums, but the songs were really catchy - and very reminiscent of their Blockheads and Squeeze influences, but in a very good way. Listening to their MySpace songs later on, tunes like Last Of The Lookers and especially Live A Little, worked really well in this kind of show. I can't wait to hear them electrically, in a proper Metros set - because they sounded like a really good band on this brief look at them.
Next up were The Pigeon Detectives, playing not so much of an acoustic set, as a full plugged in electric set - just with the volume turned significantly quieter than normal. The singer came on stage with a mug of tea, and instead of his usual manic tearing around the stage, stayed pretty close to the mic stand for the whole set - even joking at one point that he was doing his Liam Gallagher impression. The set was a fairly standard Pigeons set, except that the polite surroundings saw the audience clapping and singing along, rather than any moshing.The Pigeons set again included the excellent new B-side called I Need You, which was really really catchy, and was going around my head for much of the next day. Towards the end of the set, when the band played traditional set closer I'm Not Sorry, the crowd got to their feet and sang along. This was a really successful set - I had really wondered whether the band would be any good if you took away the huge energy and drama of their normal live shows, but they came across very well. It helped that they were still essentially playing a (quiet) electric set, but they really carried off the subdued gig well. Again, at the end of the set, the singer gave everything that wasn't nailed down on stage, to audience members to take home as souvenirs.
And so finally, with no surprise U2 appearance this time, The Kooks were introduced, and immediately played a fantastic new song called Harvest, which had everybody on their feet from the beginning. They had the full band there for this gig (as opposed to just the singer and guitarist last time they played here), and they took full advantage of this by playing a large range of songs. Old songs like She Moves In Her Own Way, Ooh La, and Seaside were all played in quick succession early on, which obviously warmed the audience up.After that, the set was a fair 50-50 split between new and old songs, many of the names of which are here. Many of the new songs sounded really good - Shine On and Love It All in particular - and I can't wait to hear the proper recorded versions on the new album. With the guitars properly plugged in, they sound like they could be excellent. Of the new songs, though, opening track Harvest was the best for me - really can't wait to hear that again. Mixed in with the new songs were just enough old favourites - Naive ending the main set, and a great version of Jackie Big Tits wrapping the whole thing up. The Kooks will be back properly soon, and if tonight is anything to go by, they will be getting bigger and bigger.
No comments:
Post a Comment