Pixies, Academy, Birmingham

 

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Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, Rock City, Nottingham

 

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The Jesus And Mary Chain, Rock City, Nottingham

Supported By Ciel

Opening tonight are Ciel. Which sounds a bit Dutch but they confess to being based in Brighton although their three members come from the UK, Spain and the Netherlands. Maybe that explains it. 

They are pleasant enough, dream poppy over some nicely thumping drums, hints of early Lush and a dashing of shoegaze. They go down well with what is quite a small crowd but then it’s still early.

The last time I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain was in 1987. Yes, that long ago. So a revisit was clearly long overdue. In 1987 they were promoting their second album ‘Darklands’ and although it wasn’t a wildly long set they had got past their early phase of playing with their backs to the audience, drenching their sound in feedback and everything else in dry ice before leaving the stage after about twenty minutes.

Tonight, they are (much) older, wise and totally professional although still men of very few words but brilliant with it. One of them still has hair (and some!) while the dry ice is also still there although they don’t layer it on in spades.

Brothers Jim and William Reid are joined these days by the well-travelled drummer Justin Welch, who started in Suede where he met Justine Frischmann with whom he formed Elastic. He was then the replacement drummer for the sadly departed Chris Acland in Lush when they reformed. Now he's here. 

In theory they are promoting their latest and eighth album ‘Glasgow Eyes’ but this is mostly a greatest hits set. 

Like likes of ‘April Skies’ and ‘Happy When It Rains’ come early, ‘Some Candy Talking’ a little later and then just when they were perhaps losing some of the crowd in the middle, due to some less familiar tracks, a cracking ‘Head On’ gets everyone’s attention back. 

Towards the end of the set Ciel's Michelle Hindricks joins them on stage to duet with Jim on ‘Sometimes Always’ which was originally done with Mazzy Star's Hope Sandoval. Then they’re into the wonderful ‘Darklands’ before ‘Never Understand’ finishes the set. 

Michelle Hindricks is back on stage to add her voice to ‘Just Like Honey’ at the start of the encore before ‘Taste of Cindy’ and the sprawling monster that is ‘Reverence’ closes the night. 

I think I best not leave it so long next time.

The Slow Readers Club, Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

Supported By Glass Caves

The Slow Readers Club start their latest UK tour at the Rescue Rooms, which is really a bit too small for them but Rock City is still perhaps a little too large. They're in that in between phase. This tour is to promote their latest album 'Out of A Dream'. 

First though are Pontefract's Glass Caves who have a new record of their own 'Back To Earth' to promote and promote they do. Frontman Matt Hallas asking the crowd to buy some merch so that they can upgrade their Travelodge to accommodate the four of them as they're all sharing one room. The band who started out busking on the streets of York treat us to their straightforward approach to modern rock alongside some vintage hairstyles. A long-haired throwback to the eighties but they are thoroughly nice chaps and so polite as they attempt to flog their merch for an upgrade. 

So, the Readers, and talking of vintage they have pulled a pretty vintage crowd which makes me feel so young. Quite why it’s an older crowd I’m not sure as the band aren’t that vintage.  

Across a 16-song main set they don't over push the new album playing just four from it including new single 'Animals' which is pretty decent and previous release 'Technofear' which everyone seems to know. 

There are of course plenty of oldies too including a rare outing for 'Sirens' from their first album in 2011. Although with seven albums to dip into now, and they do choose from them pretty evenly, there's a lot of classics not played. 

There's an excellent run at the end of the set with 'Afterlife', 'You Opened Up My Heart' and 'Forever in Your Debt' before new track 'Boy So Blue' and finally regular set closer 'On The TV'. 

They come back for an encore that opens with 'I Saw a Ghost', then 'Knowledge Freedom Power' before 'Lunatic' naturally finishes things off. It's a lively warming show for a cold November night.

Interpol, Civic Hall, Wolverhampton

Tonight, I’m in Wolverhampton at the Grade II listed Civic Halls, which have recently reopened after a lengthy renovation, for the first time in a while. I am here to see Interpol perform their classic second album ‘Antics’ in full, on the occasion of its twentieth birthday. It’s a historic venue to see an historic band play an historic album. 

First though are Dust who are from Newcastle. That’s as in Newcastle, Australia. They are a five piece and with a punk saxophone and get a generous 45-minute slot. Their opener was a bit muddled opener but after that they settled down into more traditional fare with simple chords but they are into their long intros and outros. 

They also have real problems with the sound which keeps cutting out although I’m not sure they notice. Either that or they are being very professional about it all. 

 

They’re pretty good when they get down to it with some moments of brilliance in there amongst further muddles and their new single ‘New High’ was pretty catchy. 

In the setup period between the two bands they rig up a sheet up in front of the stage. They are clearly planning on hiding the band from us when they come on. Some may say it’s theatrical but it’s a ploy I’m never a fan of. I just find it annoying and it also kills the traditional between bands entertainment of watching the roadies set everything up. 

 

So we start with the band ‘hidden’ behind the sheet, turning them in to just silhouettes, but it goes on way too long and I spend the duration of the first song looking for how it’s attached and wondering how they are going to get it down again rather. When I should have been concentrating on the first song, the album opener ‘Next Exit’, which I feel it ruins. 

Thankfully as they move on to ‘Evil’ it drops and everything else is perfect and Interpol have no sound issue like the support band did. 

Antics is played in its entirety and in order. It is top notch nostalgia with riffs that take you back in time and that are delivered perfectly by Daniel Kessler’s guitar while Paul Banks‘ voice has aged as well as the venue. 

It’s an album with few, if any, weaknesses right through to 'A Time to Be So Small', a track that is often forgotten sitting at the end of the record. 

After a short break the band return to play a selection of classics from their other albums which sees significant set list variations every night. This is something they have always been every good with and it’s also nice to see a nice long set from them. That's something they've not always been so good at but it’s all ten tracks from Antics tonight and then ten tracks more in the second half.  

First up is 'Pioneer to the Falls' from the very underrated 'Our Love to Admire'. This is followed by its album mate 'No I in Threesome', a track that has been avoiding me for decades but I finally get to see them play it tonight. 

Then there's 'Obstacle 1' which is always huge and 'Lights', always epic. Then after a couple from 2014’s ‘El Pintor’, ‘My Desire’ and ‘All the Rage Back Home’, before 'Rest My Chemistry' which closes the set. 

They return for a second time which sees them surprisingly play 'Roland' to me for the first time then they end with their debut single 'PDA'. 

Historic venue, historic band. Sublime.

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The Libertines, Rock City, Nottingham

Supported by Vona Vella, Real Farmer & Ed Cosens

The night began with a trio of support acts comprised of bands from Peter Doherty’s own label Strap Originals. It is a very tight schedule with short five-minute changeover periods between the artists which isn’t helped by the doors opening quite late at 7pm and the first band due on at 7:20pm.  

First up are Nottingham’s Vona Vella, who are Izzy Davis and Dan Cunningham, a pair of harmonious singer songwriters who turn up as four piece tonight. They trade vocals over lively guitar driven melodies with a mishmash of styles but are generally mellow and summary, very Lloyd Cole, and highly likable. They come over as a group of mates having a great time. They’re possibly too nice and I’m not sure where they take this act from here. 

Up next are Real Farmer, a band from Groningen in the Netherlands. Their lead singer walks on stage, promptly throws away his mic stand, jumps in the air a few times and spits. Ugh. Then he starts pacing up and down. This is just his warm-up I think. Then...  It’s Play Dead! Or Killing Joke maybe. This is more my thing, spitting apart.

Finally, we have Reverend and the Makers guitarist Ed Cosens who gets a few songs in while the roadies are busy resetting the stage behind him for the Libertines. He’s missed his first assigned slot and now he gets to play a mere three acoustic numbers while fighting a battle against a now restless crowd.

Then… just as we’re expecting the main event to start rather than the whole band, we get just the one Libertine as Pete Doherty strolls on to the stage alone and introduces a poet he allegedly found on Upper Parliament Street while walking his dog last night. I think it’s fair to say that said poet goes down a bit mixed.

Fifteen minutes later Doherty is back, now in his raincoat but this time with the rest of the band. Then things really took off ‘Up The Bracket’ style as they opened with a classic that is now amazingly 22 years old.

Doherty spends most of the night loitering to one side as Carl Barat, kitted out in a trilby hat and blazer, commands things from centre stage. Everyone took a turn up front though with both drummer Gary Powell and Barat taking turns on the piano and bassist John Hassall taking a turn on vocals. 

 

The set was a mix of the classics and the brand new with plenty played from their new album ‘All Quiet On The Eastern Esplanade’ in a night that was riotous but retrained too. These days you are assured that the Libertines will not only turn up to play but they'll be on time and they’ll play through to the night’s conclusion rather than being prone to curtailing things at any moment.

After an eighteen song set that finished with ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’ the band returned for a long encore of a further seven songs that Doherty even took his coat off for. This included ‘Gunga Din’, which was one of only two included from their third album 2015’s ‘Anthems for Doomed Youth’, ‘Time For Heroes’ from album one and to round things off standalone single ‘Don’t Look Back Into The Sun’.

Los Campesinos!, Foundry, University of Sheffield

Supported By Me Rex

Tonight I am at the Foundry, otherwise known as the Students Union of Sheffield University. The support band Me Rex are very very loud unless its purely because I’m stood right next to a speaker stack. They are definitely raucous and very good with a touch of Forward Russia about them. 

Their enthusiasm is hugely infectious and they quickly won over the crowd with a performance of what I'm told was indie punk bubblegrunge (or something like that). However getting deafened by the support band probably isn’t a great tactic.

In between bands I head off to find a beer as Sheffield Uni is usually awash with Thornbridge but not tonight and I come back empty handed.

Los Campesinos take the stage and immediately up the stakes out-racousing Me Rex. Opening with 'A Psychic Wound' from the new album which slides us in gently until the popular threesome of 'I Broke Up in Amarante', 'Romance Is Boring' and 'Avocado, Baby' up the craziness as they add in first crowd surfing and then a circle pit. It's clear already that it's not just the support band who were loud and I'm now very deaf. 

Los Campesinos were formed in 2006 and looking around a lot of the audience would barely be born then. Lead singer Gareth clearly has the same thought and asks how many were here the first time they played Sheffield, in this very room, 17 years ago in 2007. Four hands go up. How many seeing them for the first time… about half the room. All barely older than the lifetime of the bad. Yet when 'Knee Deep at ATP', from the first album, comes round they all go wild. It's very interesting how people get into bands these days. 

The band had a brief moment in the sun in the late 2000s with the likes of 'You! Me! Dancing!', saved as always for the encore, but they were then largely written off but not forgotten. The seven-piece, who cram on to a stage bedecked with banners for just causes, have become cult stars who sadly come around far too infrequently. Their new album 'All Hell' is their seventh but their first for seven years and it is self-produced, self-released and self-marketed on a budget of allegedly just £190. Yet tonight and the whole tour are sold out.

Tracks from the new album slot in neatly within a career spanning set list covering their usual subjects - doomed romances, doomed football, doomed capitalism etc. On of their new tracks 'To Hell in a Handjob' is apparently about 'punching fascists with your mates'. Musically, they don’t miss a beat.

Gareth gives up the mic briefly for keyboardist Kim takes the lead on the wonderful 'kms' before taking it back and insisting that the rest of the set will all be 'bangers', if anyone has any energy left. I could have done with that beer.