Weekly > Reviews
Nine Black Alps - Leeds Metropolitan University
Anybody who has read my review of the album will know that I was impressed by the Manchester bands debut Everything Is, bristled with youthful exuberance and a perverse sense of energy that I haven’t seen matched since we were nine year old kids playing football and hide and seek for ten hours on the bounce in the school holidays.
So this live performance didn’t exactly take me by surprise, it had all the positive characteristics of the album, except that live they were magnified ten times as they assaulted their instruments through a quick, (yet long by their standards) barrage of grunge guitars, pounding drums and dark bass. As has been said before, they might hail from Manchester but their hearts lie very much in Seattle circa 1991.
That probably goes a long way to explaining why at twenty nine years old I felt more like I was at a school disco on entering Leeds Metropolitan University. It started when I went to the bar, now if you don’t know me I’m a six foot, shaven headed lad, slightly receding hairline and while not what I’d call fat I’m certainly no skinny little lad either. I was asked if I had a wristband. “No I replied, why what does it get me?� was my reply. Well in short….beer. So I had to trudge to the front door, ask for a wristband, tell them I had no ID, they then gave me a wristband anyway and on we were to our first pint. Now why was all that necessary? That was all necessary because Nine Black Alps have managed to pick up all the young Kurt and Courtney wannabes under the age of twenty along with a few waifs and strays from us slightly older folks.
The best thing about this of course is that you get a great view wherever you stand as you’re a good half a foot taller than anyone else, so I had a great view of the support band Giant Drag. Strange set up a bloke about my age on drums and a caterwauling teenage squeakbox on lead vocals and guitar, The White Stripes they aren’t, but the kids love them (well her actually) and I’m starting to get a ‘why have I bothered’ feeling about this gig.
- Nine Black Alps
- Leeds Metropolitan University (17th October 2005)
- Category: Live
- Label: Island Records
- Support: Giant Drag
- Reviewed by: Kev
- Published on: 25 Oct 2005
- Comments: 0
- Beat Surrender Rating:
Weblinks
Add to favouritesAs I said though earlier Nine Black Alps delivered a decent album earlier this year and live they are even more intense, aside from the prepubescent crowd it’s actually a good gig, yes it’s slightly too heavy for my taste and they play a couple of filler tracks but you can’t argue with Just Friends, Get Your Guns, Not Everyone and of course the big anthem that is Unsatisfied. The highlight for me is Intermission as it really breaks up the gig beautifully as well as giving you an insight into the versatility of the vocals, they finish on a resoundingly punky Shot Down, don’t do an encore because this is already the longest gig they’ve ever played and the night is over in time for the kids not to be home too late for school tomorrow.
You shouldn’t dismiss them because of their crowd, I remember this happening to Blur a few years ago when Brit Pop was at it’s prime, as they get older they crowd will get older with them, in the meantime if you can still say you are just about clinging to your youth then catch them while you can because bands like this tend to burn out rather than fade out gracefully.
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