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Manchester Academy
09/11/06
 We’re quite excited. This is the first gig we’ve been to in a long time,
and there’s a pretty good chance it’s gonna rock. Hard.
Only problem is, as is often the case when we try and make the frantic
dash from LINC HQ to Manchester, the train is late, and consequently, so
are we.
As a result, we miss an entire set by The Maccabees. To be honest, we’re
not that fussed. We’d never even heard of them before we got tickets to
tonight’s shindig.
A bit of research tells us that they’re an indie band from Brighton and
were once labelled by that bible of the uber-trendy, the NME, as ‘The
Best New Band in Britain’. That fact alone leads us to the presumption
that we probably wouldn’t like them anyway.
However, just as you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, you shouldn’t
really judge a band by their hyperbole, and it would’ve been nice to
give them a chance and check them out on their own merit.
Oh well, never mind.
And so we start our gig properly with Anglo-Icelandic quintet, Fields,
who channel soothing melodies and pop harmonies into a spacious
soundscape of airy, occasionally ambient and always ambitious noise.
Fusing pop, rock and folk into a tight set that goes from sprightly
guitars to energetic bursts of power within moments, Fields summon
comparisons to the likes of Arcade Fire, Radiohead and even, to a lesser
extent, Sigur Ros.
All in all it’s quite pleasant, though ultimately rather boring.
At least the same can not be said for Leeds based outfit iForward,
Russia!
Now this we’re looking forward to; a chance to really check this lot out
proper, rather than giving them a quick once over from the back of a
tent at Leeds.
Sadly, catching their full set under the bright lights of this dark and
sweaty venue highlights the group’s flaws more than that sunny day at
the festival ever could.
Sure, the lads and lass from Leeds are quite talented. Together, they
create a mass of urgent, angular rock that demands you to head
immediately to the dance floor and freak out a top speed. Pretty much
like lead vocalist Tom does; writhing about the place as though
possessed by a garden worm desperately in desperate need of a pee.
And though they may do this well, it becomes apparent that it’s actually
all they do. Over and over again. For their entire set.
It’s quite exciting at first, and we’re even sure there’s a slight trace
of Iron Maiden’s influence in their somewhere, but then it all just kind
of filters out into this chaotic, frenzied, high speed noise, where
erratic guitars blend into one another in the most indistinguishable of
fashions.
And with that, as part of a tour celebrating new music, iForward,
Russia! Demonstrate exactly what’s wrong, in our minds at least, with
most of the new stuff coming out these days. There’s just no good riffs
anymore.
Whatever happened to the good ol’, hard and dirty riff that was once a
core ingredient in any half decent rock tune?
Oh yeah, that’s right. Wolfmother stole them all.
If they hadn’t, tonight’s performance by the Aussie trio could have been
quiet different. Yet as it is, the boys deliver everything you could
ever ask of them; huge, old-skool riffs, spiralling, monolithic jams and
a touch of the psychedelic. Wrapping the whole lot up into some awesome
tunes, the band almost immediately transform tonight’s affair from being
a rather average gig to being a damn good one.
There isn’t a band on the planet right now doing what Wolfmother do
quite as good as they do.
Yes, there’s that sense of the retro and nostalgia in the air as Sabbath
and Zeppelin crash together in a thunderous storm of hard rock, yet
Wolfmother seem to effortlessly encapsulate all that rock ‘n’ roll is
about perhaps better than any new, modern act in 2006.
Fan favourites such as ‘White Unicorn’, ‘Apple Tree’ and ‘Woman’ are all
unleashed early on to a frenzied reception, and with only one album’s
worth of material to go off, the band stretch things out with colossal
mid-song jams that destroy any potential criticism of pretension by
simply being so impressively good.
This was the reason we were so excited about tonight; to see the one
band that could very well save ‘New Music’ from it’s slow, painful
decent towards mediocrity.
Long live Wolfmother.
Recommended Links:
The Maccabees
►
www.themaccabees.co.uk
►
www.myspace.com/themaccabees
Fields
►
www.fieldsforum.com
►
www.myspace.com/fieldsband
iForward, Russia!
►
www.forwardrussia.com
►
www.myspace.com/forwardrussia
Wolfmother
►
www.wolfmother.com
►
www.myspace.com/wolfmother
►
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