10.16.07

It’s not for the cock, it’s for a one trick pony.

Posted in Gigs at 3:56 pm by Lauren

Foals, Metronomy and Great Eskimo Hoax, Rescue Rooms 04/10/07.

Tonight was a night of great promise, great electro-pop outfit Metronomy to start followed by Foals who’ve got a wild live reputation and have released three undeniably catchy singles so far this year. How could it possibly go wrong?   

The show had a fairly uninspiring, but not entirely unpleasant, start with Great Eskimo Hoax. Their opening track was promising enough with a calm combination of soothing bleeps and soft drum beats and I was eager to see how it would develop. Sadly their second song was exactly the same and so was their third and their fourth and boredom drove most of the already small audience to the bar.

After a few drinks spirits were high for Metronomy and with a rapidly filling venue everything seemed to be in place for an eventfull show. Sadly, apart from the occasional cheer when a well known song came on, the crowd lay dormant for the whole show. This is not an attack on Metronomy’s performace as the band was on top form rocking the dance moves/light show combo that as earned them cult status over the last couple of years. Not even the inclusion of their fantastic new single ‘Radio Ladio’ was able to get anything from the room which was almost full to bursting by the end of the set.

This unexpected disapointment started to make me wonder if I was just surrounded by kids and scenesters who wanted to pretend they were going to their very own ‘Skins’ secret party and fuck the rest. As Foals wondered onto the stage to more than enthusiastic cheers from their sold out audience my fears were confirmed. As soon as the first note was hit the front of the crowd burst into a frenzy, surging all around to the band’s storming guitar riffs and precision drum beats. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a lively crowd enjoy a great gig but this just wasn’t a great gig. The band just seemed to have become lazy, barely interacting with the crowd at all.  

The stage was set up with front man Yannis and guiatrist Jimmy facing each other which made it seem like you were looking in on a band practise rather than watching a band who have a reputation of being one of the most lively and raucous around. Yannis only really turned towards his enthusiastic audience for set closer, ‘Hummer’ (yes, the one from Skins).   

By the time ‘Hummer’ was played it seemed like it had been played at least twice before, giving the impression that their forthcoming debut may not be the big musical event that some may have you believe. Instead, it seems that this is a band who’ve run out of steam and are now just living on hype and if they keep going this way that’s not going to last that much longer either.   

However, I heard the next day in Leeds they played a belter, so all may not be lost!

Great Eskimo Hoax-Myspace

Metronomy-Radio Ladio

Metronomy-Myspace

Metronomy will be touring with Kate Nash from November 1st and CSS from December 2nd.

Foals-Hummer

Foals-Mathletics

Foals-Myspace

Foals will be touring with Bloc Party from December 12th.

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