@ HUU Asylum, Hull
9th November 08

For many students, Paul Heaton might as well be another discarded name picked up on an intoxicated night of fun and debauchery. Not many will recognise him as the lyrical driving force behind the Beautiful South and The Housemartins. Fewer students will realise that within his songs he has created some of the greatest poetry to ever come out of Hull, matching even the iconic figure of Phillip Larkin. The difference is that Paul Heaton writes and sings for the poor man, too literary illiterate to pick up a copy of Whitsun Weddings.

As we entered Asylum we were greeted by a sea of balding heads, the absence of skinny jeans and chequered shirts within the Paul Heaton manifesto had kept most of the student population ignorant to this man’s homecoming gig. The students who did attend, were treated to the musical styling’s of the supporting band, Attic Lights. This Glaswegian five piece produced catchy pop music infused with a young rock beat which certainly got the feet tapping. A hard job to do, considering they were playing to Hulls finest, having an average age at least twenty years older than the front man. Gracing the stage next was Cerys Matthews, a Welsh stunner, who remarkably with her charm and folk talent managed to make us feel that we were sitting in a rural pub, lost somewhere in the Welsh mountains rather than Asylum. Captivating and beautiful, many would argue that she stole the spotlight from under Paul Heaton’s nose.

When Paul entered onto the stage, he was greeted by chants of “Heat-o” and responded with a bashful smile. Not a man of cheap words, he launched into the music with a quick “thank you”. I was slightly disappointed that he sung primarily from his new album, which has its occasional tunes but doesn’t compare to the much adored back catalogue at his disposal. This may be a typical “Heato” sign, showing us that the Beautiful South days are gone and Paul Heaton is here to stay. His new album The Cross-eyed Rambler does have attention grabbing tunes such as I Do and Mermaids and Slaves, a return to the old lyricism of by-gone days. Musically, it’s back to basics, moving away from the polished studio sound of the Beautiful South, with a rawness that has been heavily influenced by folk and blues. With most of the words obscured by the rhythmic tempo and P.A system, I look forward to sitting down and really getting to grips with The Cross Eyed Rambler.

Tommy ‘TP’ Peel

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Live Review

FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND

@ HUU Asylum, Hull

Do FFAF still have the bollocks for blasting out a spleen-destroying performance at non-festival gigs, and yield the infestation of indie’s to decide that £15 is a fair price to pay for the hardcore lifestyle of the rock and roll? We were about to find out. But first I had to endure the Scottish 3-piece In Case Of Fire. With a muse styling they had elements of progressive metal, but were unable to pull this off. Very uninspiring.

So with a distinct lack of appreciation for the previous band lingering in the snakebite moistened air, and with Cancer Bats entering the fray, the mood instantly lifted with the onset of these bushy bearded American metal heads. Ear bleeding vocals stained a talented group of musicians. Unfortunately I found myself being inextricably bored after two and a half songs. We’ve all heard the “I drink a bottle of JD for breakfast” style metal a thousand times before and a hundred times done better.

Enter our emphatic hosts for the night. With an intro of We Are The Champions, the Welsh rockers bounded onto stage, filling me with a massively insecure sense of anti-climax. And the first song didn’t do anything to alleviate those worries. It felt like they were fumbling around with my supple breasts while I lay there still bored. Would this be the standard for the remainder of the set? Would I have to finish myself off? No. Juneau kicked in and instantly, from the first note, everyone grew a smile as big as Asylum, and started jumping up and down like only a few songs per generation can do. Everyone remembered why they fell in love with Funeral in the first place, and fell in love all over again. Although it has been ten years since their first full studio album was released, they did manage to play more of their earlier material, much to my delight. An awesome rendition of Your Revolution Is A Joke stole the show, and with a rip roaring encore they bid an enraptured crowd fair well, but not without saying “Hull” many, many times during the set. No one told him there is no ‘H’ in ‘Ull.

Dan Carlin

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Live Review

Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip

@ HUU Johnny Mac, Hull
23rd October 08

Whether it was to do with number of tickets being sold, their quirky ideals (they are soon to play a series of ‘library gigs’ in the South East where they hail from) or a mixture of both, the Johnny Mac bar instead of Asylum made for a sweaty and excitable atmosphere. Support came from Mr Beasley, a Hull disco-duo producing sweetly hypnotic vocals and the unpredictable synth edginess reminiscent of peak-period Daft Punk. Kid Carpet next took to the stage: you’ll either love him or hate him; I fell into the latter category after some deliberation. A dominantly rowdy and comedic hip-hop/experimental combo; remixing Sega ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ sounds with Van Halen’s Jump was superbly done and raised a smile at the same time, KC may leave you scratching your head, until sensitive set-highlight Hitting The Wall  blissfully washed over the crowd. DLS VS SP entered to a remix of the Antiques Roadshow theme tune that set the crowd into a frenzy. Pip clearly can’t tolerate the polite head-nodding seen so many times at gigs these days, and urged people to dance, desiring the response they deserve. They run through debut album Angles, expertly performed presenting influences from The Beastie Boys to Dizzee Rascal and back again. Fixed is a nod to the current over-simplified state of UK hip-hop, Letter From God To Man is melodic commentary on the world itself and Thou Shalt Always Kill is a methodical list of faux-pas and impoliteness. These all point to the road of ‘preachiness’, the road many bands decide to follow (not naming names!) to make a cut above the rest. If you overlook this trait however, you’ll appreciate the music for its own worth; the fusion between poem-like lyrics and bashy beats, and simply the amount of fun they have with songs – an energetic version of Sugababes’ Push the Button and an acoustic rap about working in a shop just to start. So whether you appreciate their commentary or their musical content, DLS VS SP will be heard.

Matt Woods

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Live Review

The View

@ Welly, Hull
22nd October 08

After a year’s absence, The View mark their return with a grueling tour of the smaller venues across England.  Despite being dubbed by many as ‘one hit wonders’ after the ridiculous success of Same Jeans, tonight Welly is still heaving with a rowdy and enthusiastic crowd.  The new single 5Rebeccas seems to have evoked a new faith in the masses that The View shouldn’t be forgotten just yet.

The room erupts as The View lumber on stage sporting unruly hairstyles and the heavily Scottish greeting of “You al’right you crazy bastards?!’” As they launch into their set the floor moves and bodies fly, the biggest reaction of course being to Same Jeans and the storming Wasted Little DJs that ends the set. Previously unheard songs such as Jimmy’s Crazy Conspiracy go down well and promise a new album that certainly won’t disappoint.

The flaw in this performance however, is that the crowd contributes much more to the atmosphere of the gig than the band do.  The singer and lead guitarist do attempt to interact with the crowd on several occasions, but soon discover that in Hull, quickly spoken Scottish over a noisy crowd isn’t easily understood.  The View play a competent collection of songs and look like they are thoroughly enjoying themselves, but somehow still manage to look like your mates band doing one of their first gigs in the local pub. This serves as a reminder perhaps, a short realization in that The View are still very young.

Although they don’t receive much banter and response from the stage, the crowd is clearly very appreciative of what they’ve been given.  Between each song and during a ‘technical difficulty’ the united chant of “The View, The View, The View are on fire!” thunders throughout the room.  To complete their live shows The View may need a renewed confidence and a more casual crowd interaction, but this performance and their new material proves that we haven’t seen the last of them.

Harriet Shephard

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Live Review

FOALS

@ HUU Asylum, Hull

As a venue, Asylum has played host in the past to a great number of popular and influential artists. Just last year the likes of Biffy Clyro, the Reverend and Frank Turner graced the stage to entertain hoards of adoring fans, to further cement, as all good bands should do, their live reputations.
Now to Foals. This band immediately disadvantaged themselves by polling exactly who was present. “Freshers?” A large cheer. “Anyone else? Returning students, perhaps?” Myself and a clutch of loyal gig-goers dutifully, but not entirely ecstatically, voiced approval. I feel Foals would have been better advised to enquire after the number of adolescent girls present, as this is surely where their largest fan base lies. The young ‘hoards’ present on this particular evening appeared out of nowhere at one specific period of the gig, and placed pressure on Foals’ longevity and perceived image. This was gathered through an over indulgent introduction, which lasted around seven minutes, and sounded like a jamming session mixed with the chorus of Cassius, undoubtedly the band’s best known tune. Indeed, it is fair to say that Cassius is the reason Foals are popular, and they performed this particular single with aplomb, pouncing through the chorus at a speed reminiscent of Golden Skans or Club Foot at a major festival. It was at this point that my weary chums and I were mobbed by twenty 15-ish year olds. This gang came out of nowhere, bobbed along during the verses and then sang the chorus loudly. As suddenly as they had appeared however, they vanished, not even staying to experience Hummer, my personal favourite Foals song, which again was performed with bubbly passion and crowd-pleasing energy.
There is no doubt that Foals ticked every box they needed to. They were entertaining, slick, energetic and involved the crowd. Nothing more could be asked of a band so sweetly nursed by the NME, yet because of this it is difficult to see how Foals will be able to change musically to ensure their second album contains more versatile and diverse sounding anthems than Antidotes. This is a compliment, because there is a distinct whiff of potential in Foals’ sound. Unlike bands such as Scouting For Girls, it seems Yannis and co wish to break out and write songs with meaning, rather than being content to entertain. Perhaps then I will be proven wrong. I hope that Foals write a Favourite Worst Nightmare, rather than an Emergency, but even if they struggle I would suggest they be remembered for being an impressively confident live band.

Alex Johnston
(Photos by Jonno Witts)

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@ HUU Asylum, Hull.

At first I arrived at Asylum seeing it half empty, giving the impression that the old interest that once surrounded this band had slowly ebbed away into the vaults of musical history. However, as the clock ticked down and the time came for The Charlatans to grace the stage; Asylum suddenly burst into life. From nowhere an audience of chanting fans, all in their Charlatans/Oasis clad outfits and 90’s style haircuts, burst onto the floor eagerly awaiting the coming performance. I was expecting big things from a band that had made their break at the same time as Oasis, however things started off a little slow. Not once did I find myself tapping my foot or nodding my head. Instead I was lured into the charismatic on-stage performance of frontman Tim Burgess and his peculiar wielding of his microphone as though it were a light sabre. Although initially the atmosphere seemed somewhat tired, Burgess began stirring the crowd, thrusting his hand into the air in that typical Manc “I don’t give a f**k” kinda way. As their set progressed and livened up, the atmosphere gradually developed into a crescendo of jumping fans and old school tunes like The Only One I Know could not fail in getting everyone in the room dancing, shouting and singing along.
It was certainly a real spectacle observing a crowd full of middle-aged blokes from Hull dancing in what could only be described as a Bez-like trance. All-in-all the gig was superb and The Charlatans proved that they still have what it takes to pick an audience up, throw it around the room a few times and leave them wanting more.

Phil Eddleston

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ENTER SHIKARI

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The Charlatans

@ HUU Asylum, Hull
5th October 2008

I arrived at Asylum seeing it half empty, giving the impression that the old interest that once surrounded this band had slowly ebbed away into the vaults of musical history. However, as the clock ticked down
and the time came for The Charlatans to grace the stage Asylum suddenly burst into life. From nowhere an audience of chanting fans, all in their Charlatans/Oasis-clad outfits and 90s-style haircuts burst onto the floor eagerly awaiting the coming performance. I was expecting big things from a band that had made their break at the same time as Oasis, but things started off a little slow. Not once did I find myself tapping my foot or nodding my head. Instead I was lured into the charismatic on-stage performance of frontman Tim
Burgess and his peculiar wielding of his microphone as though it were a light sabre.
Although initially the atmosphere seemed somewhat tired, Burgess began stirring the crowd, thrusting his hand into the air in that typical Manc “I don’t give a f**k” kinda way.
As their set progressed and livened up the atmosphere gradually developed into a crescendo of jumping fans, and old school tunes like The Only One I Know couldn’t fail to get everyone in the room dancing,
shouting and singing along. It was certainly a real spectacle observing a crowd full of middle-aged blokes from Hull dancing in what could only be described as a Bez-like trance. All in all the gig was superb and
The Charlatans proved that they still have what it takes to pick an audience up, throw it around the room a few times and leave them wanting more.

Phil Eddleston

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The Academy Is…

@ The Cockpit, Leeds.

Drummer The Butcher leads out the majority of Chicago based The Academy Is… to a chorus of cheers and screams, and the hysteria is further heightened as front man William Beckett takes centre stage as they begin their set with crowd favourite ‘Neighbors’. Throughout the hour long set William Beckett plays an active role with the crowd, crouching down to be on eye level with those crushing to get to the front, he even ends up being half dragged into the audience halfway through ‘Almost Here’. His stage presence is something, he manipulated the crowd with a simple twist of his wrist or at times thrashing the microphone stand around on stage as if it had wronged him the night before, however not once did he seem overtly arrogant or above those in attendance and the intimate venue.

Behind the focal point that is William Beckett the other four members of The Academy Is… flex their creative muscle, seemingly happy to play a supporting role to William’s on stage charisma, altering little parts of well known songs such as getting as much feedback and distortion as humanly possible before launching into ‘We’ve Got A Big Mess On Our Hands’ and it’s times like these that cement just how much each member is an integral part to the band’s live performance; William would not be the front man he is without the other four members of The Academy Is…

The most surprising and pleasing moments of the evening was just how well the tracks from Fast Times At Barrington High translated to the live stage, songs such as ‘About A Girl’, ‘Rumoured Nights’ and ‘After The Last Midtown Show’ sounded more heartfelt, intimate and richer than they did on the CD, proof to show that The Academy Is… really do want to make their live performances something that will live long in the memory of every fan in attendance. They did not solely stick to tracks off their latest album; their sixty minute set encompassed songs from all three albums, with old favourites such as ‘Attention Attention’ and ‘Classifieds’ off 2005’s Almost Here getting a very large reception as well as tracks off 2007 release Santi, something which other bands seem to distance themselves from at times.

Overall The Academy Is… never threatened to disappoint, and the chance to see them in a venue as small as ‘The Cockpit’ surely won’t be around long. With a band as energetic, heartfelt and superb live, bigger things surely await the Chicago based five piece.

Chris Boothroyd
(photos by Chris Boothroyd)

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Kate Nash

You either love her or you hate her. And for those that love Kate Nash, she is sufficiently cute and cockney so as not to disappoint. She sings her way through quirky song after quirky song and has a good bang at her piano. Foundations has almost the whole crowd singing, as everyone who knows Kate Nash certainly knows this song. She includes in the set her own ‘message’ to the graduating students. This message is ‘You don’t have to suck cock to succeed’. She then makes this line into a painfully repetitive song that even the most avid of Kate lovers get bored of by the end.

Her live performance is a reminder to most that she is indeed a product from the Brit School. Compared to The Subways’ performance later in the night; her’s contains little excitement and passion. Throughout her set it is the enthusiasm of the crowd that makes her performance, rather than her own talent.

Harriet Shepherd

The Subways

For those of you who don’t know, The Subways are an indie rock band whose best known song, ‘Rock and Roll Queen,’ was used to promote Rock ‘n’ Rolla and used in a cosmetic advert as well. Their performance was met by an over energetic audience which seemed appropriate as The Subways were extremely active with a combination of well known songs from their debut album Young for Eternity as well as songs from their second album All or Nothing.

Front man Billy Lunn interacted with the audience, getting them involved, to the point where someone threw a shoe on the stage. Songs such as ‘Rock and Roll Queen’ and ‘Girls and Boys’ really got the crowd going, and for a small stage the acoustics were great and the vocals weren’t drowned by heavy drum beats or a guitar that’s a little too loud, as so many small gigs tend to be these days.

Tom Lewis

Lethal Bizzle

What’s his name? Bizzle. Lethal Bizzle. And as much as watching his videos on YouTube might convince you otherwise, he’s not just about stupid sunglasses, and acting like he’s the best thing out of South London since, well, North London.

Unsurprisingly, Grime (the dirty, heavy rap you probably know Dizzee Rascal for) translates extremely well to a live venue. While it might all seem a bit repetitive on a music video – a little self-indulgant or, God forbid, boring – when you’re standing in Asylum with half a bottle of wine and a beat that doesn’t so much pound as wade stylishing, you tend to have a good time. A few surprising twists turned a set that might not have been received too well into something fairly spectacular. Flourishes like dropping in House of Pain’s Jump Around with, of course, Lethal’s own rhymes, or adding More Fire Crew’s Oi made something that could have been somewhat inaccessible into something furiously good to dance to.

While people at the back seemed less enthusiastic, the dancefloor was packed and truly electric. A highlight was Pow, followed by the entire crowd booing out of Asylum the one idiot that tried to start a fight. Overall, if you have even a passing interest in dance music you’ll never hear outside of Crystal Clear, or rap you’ll rarely hear at all, Lethal B put on a set worth seeing.

Turville Young

Colin Murray

When Colin Murray took to the Asylum decks, there were many weary punters on the dance floor. After an exhausting evening of merriment and mayhem, who could possible carry on for another couple of hours? But in no time at all he helped us all find our dancing feet again. While it wasn’t the cool electronica extravaganza some were hoping for if Zane Lowe had been there, Murray played everybody’s favourites (even if nobody will admit it). Playing an eclectic set, with everything from Gogol Bordello to Rage Against The Machine to the Happy Days theme tune, he made sure that if you were there, you were having the time of your life – even if you wouldn’t remember it in the morning. Gulping shots between spinning records, proclaiming his love for the audience and crowd surfing his way to a finale, it was clear that Murray enjoyed each minute as much as the students did.

Lily Hayes

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