London Astoria
Friday 22nd April 2005
reviewed by Cars
the gig!
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More of that later but first the support bands. Got in about half way through The Duels set & thought they sounded pretty good. Could see they already have a hardcore fan base by the Powerpuff Girls in the front row who were waving letters that spelt out Duels throughout. Though, because of restricted viewing of them I did think the singer must be called Del for most part. No single or album out yet but from what I heard I reckon they could do fairly well.
Next up were Nine Black Alps who I had heard of. They've had a really cool single out called Shot Down which is worth checking out. Sneering vocals, sneering guitars, good rocking stuff basically. Extra tracks on single are good too, so looking forward to an album from them.
Now, the main event!!
Fanbloodytastic. I expected them to be good but never did I imagine them to be this good. Ricky is a superb frontman who is just addictive to watch & so likeable. That has never come across to me before from watching their videos but he has to be seen to be believed. He oozes charm & totally owned the entire building that night.
They arrived onstage at around 8.45, introduced themselves & kicked straight into Na Na Na Na Na, with the fantastic Saturday Night following. Possibly the biggest cheer of the night came with the new single Everyday I Love You Less & Less, but the personal highlight for me was I Predict A Riot. Not just for the fact it's an amazing song but Ricky leapt onto the front barrier to sing (which he did several times again afterwards) & the place just erupted! Someone had bought in a cardboard cut out which managed to make it's way to Ricky. It appeared to be a man in y-fronts. Dunno why but it got dressed up with a tie, etc throughout the gig by the stage hands.
Other highlights would be Born To Be A Dancer, Hard Times Sent Me & Oh My God.
Though the set was only just over an hour long they played 10 tracks from their album, plus 2 b-sides so you can't moan about that now can you?
If I HAD to have a slight niggle I'd say that it was an odd decision to end the show with a b-side. I Predict A Riot or Oh My God would have been better suited. But then the way they came back on for the encore, introducing themselves as they did at the start of the gig let them off the hook for me!
Trust me when I say this band WILL be huge - I'm glad I saw them in such a small venue 'cos they won't be playing places like the Astoria for much longer I suspect.
10 out of 10
SETLIST:
Na Na Na Na Na
Saturday Night
Everyday I Love You Less & Less
Born To Be A Dancer
I Predict A Riot
You Can Have It All
Hard Times Send Me
Modern Way
Oh My God
Time Honoured Tradition
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Caroline Yes
Take My Temperature
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