Midlake are a difficult band to pin down. Their
first album sounded a lot like early
Grandaddy; the
second had a 70s rock feel about it. Their latest, the recently-released
The Courage of Others, has a more folksy,
Fairport Convention air. With each album their songs seem to have become less infectious. So it was slightly unfortunate for me, then, that during last night's gig at the Anson Rooms any early material was eschewed; many of the songs were newer material and as a result I became easily distracted by the chatter coming from the back of the auditorium - usually in front of where we were standing (it never ceases to amaze me how people can turn up for a gig and just talk all the way through it. I have some live
Elliott Smith somewhere where, between songs, he makes a barbed comment about the noise which prompts a huge cheer and applause from the front). Midlake put on a tight performance, the banter with the crowd was nice and they ended with the beautiful
Branches as an extended encore so I left happy enough. I guess I'm just one of those 'earlier material' snobs at heart...
2 comments:
Ah, that age-old problem of people who talk in theatres, may they burn in a special circle of hell. The last gig I went to (Jesca Hoop) was a classic example of the polite middle class Brighton gig where everyone sat silently enraptured until it was time to clap. If only they were all like that.
I do believe the sign of a really really good band is one that can silence even the most chatty of audiences - as the Low Anthem did the first time I saw them last May. A girl in the crowd who was yabbering away on her mobile phone (for crying out loud) suddenly gawped in amazement and told her friend "oh my god, gotta go" when they started to play.
Hmmm, we have polite middle class gigs here too - at lovely old St Georges church. Unfortunately, the last one (Joan as Policewoman) made me uncomfortable to be honest as some of the songs were quite uptempo for a seated gig. I felt people (NOT me of course, heheh!) should at least be getting up & moving about a bit! It made me feel as though us, as an audience, weren't really into it (which I'm sure wasn't the case!).
My other problem at gigs is finding a nice spot where you can see everything that's going on only for some lunkhead & his mates to push in front of you so all you see is the back of their heads.
Maybe I should stay at home in future...? ;)
Post a Comment