12.22.07
It’s not for the cock, it’s for Justice being done.
CSS, Justice/Rock City/8.12.07
Despite CSS being partly responsible for today’s youth dripping with the, hopefully toxic, innards of every left over glow stick from the 90’s and Lovefoxx being wholly responsible for bringing back the unflattering glitter cat suit, this night was for many about one band and one band only, Justice.
Their show began with the glow of the, soon to be infamous, white cross illuminating the young, eager faces at the front of the screaming audience. The luminous crucifix was embedded the usual wall of amps supporting the two Frenchmen and their equipment. The set list was a perfect mix of the duo’s own tracks littered with snippets from this year’s biggest dance anthems. Ideal as this may sound the lack of Radio One friendly sounds created a divide in the assembly. All around the outside of the dancefloor were those who are so used to being spoon fed music by the marketing departments of record labels that it’ll be at least another year until they are converts to the Justice cause. This half of the audience surrounded a core of loyal and energetic fans dancing as hard as one can at pitifully early time of half seven.
With the house laying divided in front of them Justice brought in their only track known widely enough to unite the masses. The first ever release from the band (known for chart success, being on an advert and, most importantly, pissing off Kanye West) ‘We Are Your Friends’ began to creep into ‘Stress’ and as those trademark blasts of synth began to dominate the track the crowd was united for a hands in the air sing-along. Towards the end of the track crossed arms were thrust into the air in appreciation and the pair responded by taking gulps from a bottle of Jack Daniels while giving a nod to the sweaty mass before them and leaving the stage.
Following the slick technical genius of Justice’s set was the low quality, unprofessional looking mess that was CSS’ headline show. When CSS first started grabbing the attention of press in the UK their messy, uncoordinated shows were charming and fun and their first demos showed promise in this band of electro poppers. Then came the album and although it showed little progression from the early demos the handful of dancefloor fillers such as ‘Lets Make Love…’ gave hope for the band as a live act. However, tonight proved that aswell as being unable to develop their recorded work CSS are not capable of moving on from the messy, fledgling band they were over a year ago on their first UK tour. Despite the fact they’re now charging around £15 for a ticket the band seem to think it’s still so very cutting edge to some on stage wearing costumes that look like they’ve been made from odds and ends backstage and it’s still fine to sound like you haven’t ever done a soundcheck in your life.
The one thing that has changed about CSS‘ live shows is the enthusiasm. While Lovefoxx was trying her best to be the crazy and super cool frontwoman the press has made her out to be over the last year the rest of the band obviously didn’t really care at all. No more instrument swapping, stage diving or energy anymore but there was plenty of standing still and looking bored while Lovefoxx struggled to carry her five bandmates.
Having Justice as a support band was a brave decision and probably sold the band alot of tickets but as CSS are uncapable of even just meeting Justice’s high standards their average show was even more disapointing.
You’ve heard the whole album by now whether you wanted to or not so here is a remix.
Still having trouble with MP3s so I can’t get a Justice one up, sorry!
Martin said,
December 23, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Don’t get me wrong, I think you write well but some of your writing is bordering on pretentious (or maybe it’s crossed that line? I don’t know):
“Ideal as this may sound the lack of Radio One friendly sounds created a divide in the assembly. All around the outside of the dancefloor were those who are so used to being spoon fed music by the marketing departments of record labels that it’ll be at least another year until they are converts to the Justice cause. This half of the audience surrounded a core of loyal and energetic fans dancing as hard as one can at pitifully early time of half seven.”
Ouch….
Princess said,
December 23, 2007 at 1:09 pm
What can I say, I learnt from the master:
“Apparently changes in the statistical methodology of The Times have drastically altered LSE’s position in the league table, though I won’t bore you with explanations of that.
I will bore you with facts which made me feel much better/very proud/very happy:
- The LSE remains the world’s best university for international students
- LSE is third best in the world for graduate recruitment
- LSE is third best in the world, after only Harvard and Berkeley, for social sciences
- LSE comes top of the average starting salaries table for graduates”
xxx
John said,
December 24, 2007 at 6:10 pm
WOW.
Happy Christmas everyone x
Martin said,
December 26, 2007 at 4:14 pm
touché
“It’s not for the cock” » It’s not for the cock, it’s for the biggest post ever. said,
January 20, 2008 at 7:10 pm
[...] Justice/Rock City/08.12.2007 Review [...]
“It’s not for the cock” » It’s not for the cock, it’s for doing exactly what it says on the tin. said,
February 25, 2008 at 5:11 pm
[...] and into crowds as big as Rock City holds. In fact, the last time any of us were there was the same time as the french duo in question were supporting CSS. In just over two months they’ve gone from supporting to [...]