The Beat Surrender

I somehow managed to end up with a hangover on the back of this gig, it was one of those that sort of creeps up on you. While you are out you don’t feel like you are drinking much, the next day you wake up and don’t feel that bad, then a couple of hours later it starts.

I don’t really care though because the night before i’ve been to see The Futureheads in a strange (more of that later) little venue in Leeds and i’m very optimistic about the bands future, which has hung in the balance over the last year or two. This is pleasing for two reasons, firstly I have always liked the band and their angular Gang Of Four influenced rhythms, secondly it’s nice to see a band fighting back when they’ve beebn pretty much chewed up and spspat back out by the record industry.

Their forthcoming single and album is being released on the bands own Nul Records label which they have set up with the sole intention of releasing their own material and from this gig it sounds like a return to their blistering past material, The Begining Of The Twist (the new single) is just one of a clutch of new songs they played that blew the socks off everyone in this little air raid shelter of a venue.

I was one of the few writers at the time who liked the second album News And Tributes and my opinion hasn’t changed since then, so it’s good to see that despite a lot of the early tracks getting an outing they also play a couple of songs from that album, including Skip To The End which is still one of my favourite tracks they’ve done.

The crowd love the set and go monumentally mental when Hounds Of Love gets an airing early(ish) on in the set, this song may remain their biggest hit which for a lot of bands would seem a shame that it’s a cover version you get known for, the fact of the matter is though that they put such a stamp on it themselves that it really does feel like one of their songs.

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