The Beat Surrender

Oh music you can be a fickle bedfellow can’t you, having both the power to excite and disappoint as you see fit depending of course on how you feel on the night.

This could be me looking forward to something a little too much again and possibly taking my disappointment out on them in the review, that said though if you pay your cash (and for once this wasn’t me ligging, I was a paying customer) then you expect a good show.

The reason I was looking forward to the gig so much was on the back two singles I’d heard in the last six months, Seperated By Motorways was the first one and more recently the forthcoming Once And Never Again which went down ok when I played it at a recent indie night.

The Long Blondes were on tour to promote the afore mentioned single and new album Someone To Drive Me which is hotly tipped to do well, following in the footsteps of people like The Fratellis recently. Based on what I saw this night though I can’t really see it I’ll be honest.

The firs thing to note is that lead singer Kate Jackson unfortunately seems to have something of a fascination bordering on obsession with Blondie. The stage presence and mannerisms ape directly back to her, unfortunately she’s also modelled her stage wear tonight on the extras from Fame.

Musically the band lose the edge they have on record when it comes to the live arena. Despite having the bands biggest fan next to me singing along to all the songs I didn’t really feel that they engaged the audience or connected with us at any point.

The highlights were few and far between, the two afore mentioned singles didn’t even really stand out as much as you would have liked, with the overall feel of the set being bland. It’s never a good sign when the audience spend more time talking than listening.

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