November 23, 2005
First up on the bill is English band The Magdalenes that offer an air of grungy guitar riffs along with catchy drum beats that make your feet tap to the music. A band with a mix of the infamous 'grunge sound' meeting punk with a slight resemblance to 'Eighties Matchbox B-line disaster'. The guitar riffs are consistently powerful showing us there are two things that this band lives for, and reminding us of why so many kids wanna be something, and those two things are undoubtedly Rock and roll. It is the third song however that the band claim to have never played before live that really appeals to me, with a catchy old skool punk 'shout-a-long' chorus, that could be a golden track on an album. This band is definitely worth seeing live with titled songs such as 'Jennifer Aniston' and 'Nicotine' that show their light hearted "proud to be English" layer. At times the song structures seemed to follow a pattern which began to bore me but as soon as I started to lose interest the band generally differed by alternating between fast songs to more mellow and metally tracks.
Next up is 60's influenced band The Tommies, changing the set mood by delivering a swingy dance atmosphere swarmed with cheery light hearted pop. Unfortunately the band is melted with cheese and you cannot help but wonder if the drummer ever stops smiling. The whole faade is Beach Boys melodies meet The Hives dance moves meet the Weezer video 'Buddy Holly'. Most of the songs sounded the same and boredom kicked in showing that the band lacked imagination and diverse dynamics. However there was no fault in the sound and the screaming girls in the audience seemed to love it.
The last band of the night was Babystrange all the way from America who took to the stage with black suits, red shirts and black ties; a stage act that regrettably never seems to disappear out of fashion. The band is almost an American 'Maximo Park' with their style producing songs that are pure Rock and Roll. They slipped in a cover of 'Eddie Floyd- Knock on Wood' to hype the audience up a bit. On the other hand I did find that the stage act overtook the music a little although it did keep the audience interested. Towards the end the lead singer came off the stage onto the dance floor to strut his moves and dance right at the front with no one other than himself. Unfortunately it didn't seem to work leading to the overhearing of comments such as "What a prick!" As the last song came to an end, as was soon the night, the band were asked to play more however you couldn't decide whether people were being sincere or whether they just wanted to see if the lead singer could do anything even more stupid.
All the bands are equally worth seeing live especially if the alternative is to sit at home watching those kind of programmes that are rubbish but you won't admit you love secretly .My personal favourite was definitely The Magdalenes.
Review – Kristi
Written By Kristi
