A third trip to Rock City, Nottingham since Valentines Day on May 7th meant that I would be in the crowd for Yorkshire family trio The Cribs, with two support bands (Crocodiles and Martin Creed). This would prove to be a very eventful gig, from hat-wearing hissing men on stage to an air-guitar-playing and alone lad in the crowd.
First up was Wakefield born Martin Creed (who really did look like a man you would not like to approach in the street due to an uncomfortable glint in his eyes) with his band, formerly known (or maybe not known) as 'Owada'. At this point the venue had a surprisingly little amount in the crowd, and it was hard to believe there wouldn't be more people at an opening date of a Cribs tour. However, Martin Creed got started with much confusion as no one really knew who he was or why he was on stage, but it was soon made obvious why the majority of people going along had clearly decided to come later. Although most of the crowd were laughing at him, he carried on as usual and by the end of the gig it was more like laughing with him. His songs were... different to say the least and to be quite honest most did sound like he had just figured out a string of chords and was shouting (and in some cases hissing) anything that came into his head, including numbers from 1-100 in one song, an another was based entirely around the two words 'fuck off'. On stage next to Martin Creed was a woman who literally contributed nothing to the gig, except if you count banging two sticks together a few times in the set closer. Everyone was quite relieved when they went off, as it was time for Crocodiles, who couldn't possibly have been worse.
After quite a long gap, California-indie band Crocodiles came out, with lead singer Brandon Welchez carrying a bottle of white wine, looking drunk already. Standing to his right was guitarist Charles Rowell, both formally in punk band 'The Plot to Blow Up the Eiffel Tower'. They started off relatively well, but didn't quite get the crowd going like they would of expected, bar a bloke playing air-guitar amongst us, dancing with anyone that would and laughing at everything, with everyone around him laughing at him (which did improve this half an hour slightly). However, they made sure they had a brilliant time on stage, with Brandon Welchez stumbling around the stage pulling faces looking like something between a toddler's tantrum and depressed man who'd just been shot. Meanwhile a few metres away from him, a mixture of Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton had taken to the stage, or so he thought. Rowell was swinging his guitar around knocking various things over such as his mic, his mic stand and his cup of beer. After this he began to drink the white wine, and play to the drummer who looked anything but impressed. By the time they were playing their last few songs the crowd were bored and restless, shouting things like 'we want cribs' and 'wakefield', and they had to wait a while for them even after Crocodiles had left the stage.
On came The Cribs after what seemed like hours, another Wakefield formed band but this time with a lot more popularity, and with a much better welcome from the crowd. By this time Rock City was full, and with the brilliant set opener 'Chi-Town' from their album 'In the Belly of the Brazen Bull', (which was out on the same day), the whole building was alive with every person screaming the words. At this point, the crowd were mental, and this was the trend from then on, with no one going home without a bruise. They played songs from all of their albums such as 'I'm a Realist', 'Cheat On Me', 'Come On, Be A No-One', 'Mirror Kissers' and 'Direction' which were incredibly big hits with the crowd. Ryan Jarman was ringing out the high riffs of their tunes and at one point did slip off a speaker he was standing on but he carried on all the same an no one minded. At one point in the gig just after halfway, Ryan Jarman asked the crowd which song they should play from the first album, which was greeted with screams and shouts of mostly 'Direction' an 'Baby Don't Sweat' which they played both in the end, and both were incredible. After this they played my favourite Cribs track, which is 'Be Safe' from their 3rd album 'Men's Needs, Women's Needs, Whatever', which everyone tried as hard as they could to shout all the words out, which proved to be quite impossible. They played a few more after this, including 'Men's Needs', a hit also from their third album before closing with 'City of Bugs'. This last track included Ryan Jarman a metre away from me playing guitar on his knees before lowering all his strings pitch and playing with the edge of an amp. During this time brother Ross played briefly on top of other brother Gary's drums after sliding a mic stand up and down his bass, still keeping with the song perfectly. This was a fantastic end to an incredible night, which was without a doubt the best gig i've ever been to, despite the support bands. I hope to see The Cribs as many times as possible in the future!
New album 'In The Belly Of The Brazen Bull' out now!
http://www.thecribs.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha2utKmXnKo&list=UU5GKdcPf9ZDbSbJEQjOtelw&index=3&feature=plcp - Be Safe
TLH
Showing posts with label rock city. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock city. Show all posts
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Sunday, 26 February 2012
NME Tour
The NME tour again excited many people of all ages with the prospect of another 4 new talents from 2011, showing off their music to dedicated fans at 13 different venues. The tour featured four artists all incredibly contrasting from each other, with the fast, flowing beats of Azealia Banks to the heavy anthems and echoing riffs of Tribes, there was something for everyone at this years tour.
I managed to get tickets for the tour from someone I knew less than 10 hours before the gig, and so i went along to Nottingham's Rock City on valentines day. First up (after an incredibly fast moving que considering the gig had sold out weeks before) was American rapper and queen of insults, Azealia Banks. As the venue was filling up her relatively short set got the atmosphere going and soon enough the floor was jam packed with the upstairs balcony relatively tight for room as well. After 6 songs not many people knew all too well but were all happy to be the crowd for, Banks closed up her set with '212', a great tune which really got the crowd going and lit up the sea of bodies with the flashing lights and the club filling echoes of her controversial lyrics being screamed out from most mouths at Rock City in Azealia's final song of the night.
Next up was Camden four-piece Tribes, introduced to us by Banks very kindly after the '212' crowd had calmed down slightly. Their recently gained fame came at a great time for the tour after their recent release of 'Baby', and this was definitely reflected in the crowd. Playing their hits like 'Sappho', 'Coming Of Age' and 'We Were Children', the London band played a brilliant set worthy of a more experienced and a lot more popular band, which Tribes could so easily become in the next few years. The instrument heavy sound and memorable riffs rang throughout the ears of the fans shouting and singing the words to the catchy tunes, and it certainly was not a disappointment to anyone inside Rock City that night.
3rd in line were electronic band Metronomy, who gave a completely different buzz to the previous act. Main man Joe Mount and co took to the stage wearing light up/flashing badges, which lit up the stage along with the strobes, making it look fantastic against the dark backdrop of the venue. With all four members dancing around the stage whilst playing their incredibly catchy, synthesized instumentals with Mount singing, playing his guitar and tapping away at his keyboard in rapid succession and as close to simultaneously as humanly possible. Playing tracks from their critically acclaimed LPs, the Devon-formed talents blasted out hits such as 'The Bay', 'Radio Ladio' and 'The Look', filling the club from wall to wall with incredible sound like not many bands can produce, and certainly not in the way they do. Metronomy for me were the highlight of the night, as I'm sure they did for many people in the many venues they played in over the two week period of the tour.
The last act to take part in the gig were Two Door Cinema Club, an indie pop band from Northern Ireland who were the headliners of the tour. Out of the four, TDCC are probably the most popular, however not the longest running act on the tour. It was clear even before the moment they stepped on to the stage that they were the reason most people went to the gig, with the pre-set moshing even with no music playing throughout the crowd. When they did come on, they received a rapturous reception from the crowd, which carried on for the whole set. This included mostly songs from their debut and so far only album 'Tourist History', a relatively well-reviewed record from early 2010. Other than that they played a few new tracks from their forthcoming 2nd album, and previewed the new songs like 'This Is Moon' and 'Costume Party', along with their hits 'I Can Talk', 'What You Know' and 'Something Good Can Work'. They played their songs very well, and comfortably too with lead singer Alex Trimble playing throw and catch with one of his guitars with someone across the stage. However, I couldn't help but to feel their songs seem slightly repetitive, and at this point I stopped enjoying myself, despite an attempt at encouragement from my friends!
Overall it was an enjoyable night, as I'm sure the other 12 nights were for thousands of people. Again the NME Tour has been a great success, promoting new bands to people who might not have come across them until later years, which obviously is one of the aims of the tour. Again NME chose very good acts, all of which look to have very bright futures.
TLH
I managed to get tickets for the tour from someone I knew less than 10 hours before the gig, and so i went along to Nottingham's Rock City on valentines day. First up (after an incredibly fast moving que considering the gig had sold out weeks before) was American rapper and queen of insults, Azealia Banks. As the venue was filling up her relatively short set got the atmosphere going and soon enough the floor was jam packed with the upstairs balcony relatively tight for room as well. After 6 songs not many people knew all too well but were all happy to be the crowd for, Banks closed up her set with '212', a great tune which really got the crowd going and lit up the sea of bodies with the flashing lights and the club filling echoes of her controversial lyrics being screamed out from most mouths at Rock City in Azealia's final song of the night.
Next up was Camden four-piece Tribes, introduced to us by Banks very kindly after the '212' crowd had calmed down slightly. Their recently gained fame came at a great time for the tour after their recent release of 'Baby', and this was definitely reflected in the crowd. Playing their hits like 'Sappho', 'Coming Of Age' and 'We Were Children', the London band played a brilliant set worthy of a more experienced and a lot more popular band, which Tribes could so easily become in the next few years. The instrument heavy sound and memorable riffs rang throughout the ears of the fans shouting and singing the words to the catchy tunes, and it certainly was not a disappointment to anyone inside Rock City that night.
3rd in line were electronic band Metronomy, who gave a completely different buzz to the previous act. Main man Joe Mount and co took to the stage wearing light up/flashing badges, which lit up the stage along with the strobes, making it look fantastic against the dark backdrop of the venue. With all four members dancing around the stage whilst playing their incredibly catchy, synthesized instumentals with Mount singing, playing his guitar and tapping away at his keyboard in rapid succession and as close to simultaneously as humanly possible. Playing tracks from their critically acclaimed LPs, the Devon-formed talents blasted out hits such as 'The Bay', 'Radio Ladio' and 'The Look', filling the club from wall to wall with incredible sound like not many bands can produce, and certainly not in the way they do. Metronomy for me were the highlight of the night, as I'm sure they did for many people in the many venues they played in over the two week period of the tour.
The last act to take part in the gig were Two Door Cinema Club, an indie pop band from Northern Ireland who were the headliners of the tour. Out of the four, TDCC are probably the most popular, however not the longest running act on the tour. It was clear even before the moment they stepped on to the stage that they were the reason most people went to the gig, with the pre-set moshing even with no music playing throughout the crowd. When they did come on, they received a rapturous reception from the crowd, which carried on for the whole set. This included mostly songs from their debut and so far only album 'Tourist History', a relatively well-reviewed record from early 2010. Other than that they played a few new tracks from their forthcoming 2nd album, and previewed the new songs like 'This Is Moon' and 'Costume Party', along with their hits 'I Can Talk', 'What You Know' and 'Something Good Can Work'. They played their songs very well, and comfortably too with lead singer Alex Trimble playing throw and catch with one of his guitars with someone across the stage. However, I couldn't help but to feel their songs seem slightly repetitive, and at this point I stopped enjoying myself, despite an attempt at encouragement from my friends!
Overall it was an enjoyable night, as I'm sure the other 12 nights were for thousands of people. Again the NME Tour has been a great success, promoting new bands to people who might not have come across them until later years, which obviously is one of the aims of the tour. Again NME chose very good acts, all of which look to have very bright futures.
TLH
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