Frightened Rabbit - Academy Birmingham

Up to Brum with the Lad and his lady, sadly without IDS again despite this being a gig for one of his favs – Frightened Rabbit. Once again lined up in a tiny queue for our show this time next to a humungous line for Dave Matthews – pretty sure we made the right choice

An early show and so we weren’t expecting a second support, tonight in the shape of local Brummie band Goodnight Lenin. Despite being shamefully young ,the band knocked out some good stuff and got the crowd rolling along. In the mould of the current Mumford & Sons, Stornoway, stylee - they were rightly very well received put out some jolly banter good banter and would be well worth a second visit to one of their own shows – details on the Myspace site of course.

The publicised support Airship have been on my radar for a while and this was the second time of trying to see them. They were the first support for the Death Cab gig in Bristol last year, but who we missed by arriving too late. Their EP, Spirit of the Beehive, has a strong set of songs, but on the night they had a slightly distracted mein, and were woefully let down by the sound, particularly in the vocal department, overall sounding way to bass heavy and muddy. A disappointment but still worth trying a again – they are out on the road again with the wonderful Joy Formidable

Frabbit were also support for the aforementioned Bristol Death cab gig and so a headline show was much anticipated. Their sound was better but still too visceral in the bass area with a loss of treble and consequently much of the detail of the songs. None the less they delivered a good mix of new and older songs – interestingly some of the newer songs that felt least good on cd come over strongly live. So an enjoyable gig but not quite as great as I had hoped for due in the main part because of the rotten sound quality – why can’t sound engineers give as much attention to the top of the range as they do to the bass...sigh

Editors at Colston Hall

Having looked forward for some time to see Airship as the first support for Editors it was more than a little irritating to find that the doors open time was clearly a figment of someone’s imagination and we toddled into the hall just as they walked off. It seems far from fair to have a band go on to just a handful of people – lets hope they don’t suffer the same ignominy elsewhere on the tour.

Wintersleep, the second support , were also a band on my ‘want to see’ list. Welcome to the Night Sky is a fine album and they dutifully rolicked through some of the tracks including Drunk on Aluminium, Archaeologists and the like. The lead vocals, certainly at first, sounded like a pale imitation of those on record, but they did improve through the set. A good set, well delivered, it unfortunately to my mind went out on a bit of a duff track and would have been better using a more accessible and immediate song to leave with.

Editors came on all black and moody onto a black and moody stage with an industrial scale light wall behind and went straight into the opener and title track from the new album. Straight through into another two or three songs, mixing old and new. Although not a big fan of the Dépêche Mode era synth stuff, it must be said that the additions make a welcome change and enrichment of the sound, away from what is now a little predictable indie crash and wallop. Of the newer tracks, You Don’t Know Love and Eat Raw Meat=Blood Drool stood out as of course did Papillon as the penultimate encore (should have saved it ‘til last methinks). Papillon, with its disco syth overtones and the slightly bizarre ‘Kicks like a sleep twitch’ line, got me as close as I ever come to leaping up and down in front of the stage (so inelegant and unbecoming at my age).

Stroudie Tim Smith was in fine voice, lets hope it holds up for the full three months of the tour, a strangely rich and sonorous voice. Physically he is an odd amalgam of Ian Anderson and some hybrid Dickensian character – all distorted face expressions and striking demented angular poses, throwing himself around the stage with abandon.

The whole show was at full tilt, high energy, roaringly loud, blinding lights, Smiths frantic activity counterpointed by his colleagues restraint. The relative lack of interaction with the crowd or backchat reinforced the sense that here might be a band hoping for stadium access and the detached pomp and bombast that the show leaned towards. The vacuity of some of the lyrics is all the more apparent live, however it was impossible not to leave impressed, energised and more enthusiastic about Editors than I had dared hope

Editors website

Editors Myspace

Wintersleep Myspace

Airship Myspace

Miscellany - Too Many Bands/Too Little Time

Sorry bit of a rubbish post this - but I keep making short notes of bands to mention and then not getting around to it - so here goes for a few short sharp comments and names for future exploration:

We Were Promised Jetpacks

A Scottish foursome are really worth the effort if for nothing other than their excellent name. With touches of Frightened Rabbit and a bit of a disturbing (visually) video.

Myspace

We Were Promised Jetpacks - Quiet Little Voices

Pink Mountaintops

A bit of psychedelic, gospel type stuff from British Colombia - happy, trippy, hairy

Myspace

Hands and Knees

Loving the slightly untidy, jangly nature of this lot from Massachusetts, especially the You Got Pop You Got Style

Myspace

Cymbals Eat Guitars

Poppy, experimentalisty chaps from Staten Island NY - inevitably sound a little bit Pavement-y (but then doesn't everyone?)

Myspace

Mt St Helens Vietnam Band

I know I have a thing about bands from the NW USA and so here's some more from Seattle

Myspace

Airship

Just to prove that I am not entirely US obsessed here's some British chaps! The Spirit of the Beehive EP is well worth getting... this Youtube clip isn't really all that typical but kind of fun all the same - the Channel M Session is worth a look

Myspace

Channel M Session