The Beat Surrender

I was really looking forward to this gig not least because of the support We Are Scientists who really appealed to me. Not that I wasn’t equally excited about The Kaisers. As it turned out it was the first support that really caught my attention The Little One’s, psychedelic art rock from the USA.

Quite jolly and to my mind just what was needed on a cold wet November night to warm up the crowd. I could have happily spent more time in their company, however after arriving a little late (traffic on the M62 was appallingly slow due to the rain) I only actually caught about three tracks, but what I heard I liked.

We Are scientists were up next and I have to say a large section of the audience went wild when they came out, however this could have been the sight of skinny men all topless (don’t they realise the average age of the crowd was around 9 could have scarred them for life). Usual gripe about the sound quality, it seemed pretty poor, lots of feedback which may have been intentional but it drowned out the vocals and really isn’t that cool. The rockers from the USA did seem to go down well with a large section of the audience, not sure what the OAPs or the Primary School kids in front of me made of them. Unfortunately, once you’ve heard one track you’ve heard them all. Each track seemed to merge into the next without much variation. Shouted vocals, massive guitars and pounding drums, however as a support band they were ok.

A few adjustments to the stage, including a massive black curtain proclaiming The Kaiser Chiefs were in the building. While they have had some success, mainly the 2004 album Employment, the second album Yours Truly Angry Mob released in February 2007 wasn’t quite so well received, getting mixed reviews. It’s the personality of The Kaisers which seems to carry them along, it’s hard not to like them, they come across as the cheeky chappies form Leeds whenever interviewed and genuinely seem to like there fans.

Ricky Wilson bounded on to the stage to Everything Is Average Nowadays, keeping the momentum and energy levels up went on to Everyday I Love You Less And Less, a momentary loss of power did nothing to hold Wilson back. He moves around the stage with boundless energy, jumping from speaker to speaker almost diving into the audience. The Heat Dies Down was next along with a conversation about this being the biggest venue they have every played, if that is the case then it didn’t show, endless confidence.

Next was Born To Be A Dancer (and he certainly was) then the biggest audience reaction of the night Ruby, I’d have expected this to be a big one but the band could have sat down and had a cup of tea, the audience took over the singing and were perfectly in time, truly amazing. The first of three new tracks Never Miss A Beat, seemed to go down well even though it was clear many hadn’t heard it before. Back to the tried and tested, I Can Do It Without You, Modern Way and Saturday Night all going down fantastically.

Moving on to Retirement and Na Na Na Na Naa, everyone was on there feet now even the old chap in front of me. Another new track You Want History, this had a really distinctive sound, very Duran Duran. Odds on this will be a single release in 2008, Ricky Wilson had a bit of banter with one of the audience who was shouting for one of the better known tracks and told him “He was listening to the hits of 2008” he may well be right about that. I really liked this track, its catchy and will go down well on the radio.

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