I wouldn't normally do this, but I went to see Stereophonics. A mate had a spare ticket at the last minute - and, needing to get out of the house, I went along. Not exactly my favourite band - although I liked their very early stuff - and this was the first time I'd been near one of their gigs since walking past their encore at Reading 2000. Tom Jones was on stage with them that evening, which they probably don't do at every gig! This show was for Teenage Cancer Trust, at the Royal Albert Hall, so a great cause in a fantastic venue.
The support band were Noisettes, a band I walked past when they were supporting somebody a couple of years ago, but who sounded crap at the time. They had a number of decent support slots, most notably Muse, but just didn't go down very well at the time. This time, they seemed like a totally different band - much better. They were fronted by a very tall black woman, who jumped around the stage quite energetically - even falling on her arse at one point. They played a decent half hour set, including their very catchy single Don't Upset The Rhythm, and another standout track called Never Forget You. Really enjoyable set, they are a much improved band since 2 years ago, and they look like they are about to go quite big.After some inspiring videos of people who had been helped by TCT, Stereophonics arrived on stage. They started off with a couple of excellent old songs, More Life In A Tramps Vest, and A Thousand Trees. All in all, they played quite a bit of material from debut album Word Gets Around, which seemed to be well received by the audience, me included. It reminded me how good their very early material is, in contrast with how bland much of their radio friendly later stuff can be.
One thing about Stereophonics is of course that singer Kelly Jones has a fantastic and distinctive voice, without which they would undoubtedly not have survived as long as they have. Some of the songs are good, some are average, but it is his voice that lifts the band above others that weren't as successful. The audience at the gig surprised me - lots of them seemed to be incredibly excited to be there, as if Stereophonics were their favourite band in the world. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but it was a bit of a weird thought. They have a few nice songs, but I can't imagine how you could say they were your favourite band. Whatever you could like about Stereophonics, there is another band out there that does it better, surely? The highlight of the gig for most people, and a low point for me, was when they played Have A Nice Day - the audience were all on their feet, with hands waving from side to side. The song is a crime against music as far as I'm concerned, absolute middle of the road daytime radio dirge. Ok, it was one of their most famous songs, but really, it is incredibly dull and wet.
But it wasn't all like that - they of course played the radio friendly rubbish, but there were plenty of obscure songs like Goldfish Bowl, and early album tracks like Same Size Feet. All good stuff. The show ended with Local Boy In The Photograph, before a 4 song encore which finished with the excellent Dakota. A good way to finish what was a long set at almost an hour and 45 minutes.
Despite not being a huge Stereophonics fan, I was glad I went to this show - they clearly have a hefty catalogue of big singles, so you are always going to hear a lot of songs you know. I still think that they are a band who made a great first album, then sold out to get themselves played on Virgin Radio all day long. Since then, they have written a few songs that have got close to their early heights, and as long as they keep playing them live, they will probably keep playing to lots of people for years to come. I find it quite hard to get excited about them, but they have been around long enough now to deserve a bit of respect at least.
