Four new MTV2-touted bands on the same bill; this could have been a good opportunity to throw a strikingly different or unrepresentative act amid the more traditionally indie-rockin’ fare. Instead, we get bands that cover all familiar bases of contemporary anorak rock, but have little in the way of character or appealing unique qualities.
First, The Maccabees, who perform a short but enjoyable set to a disappointingly small audience, most concert-goers having decided that the show wasn’t going to kick into life until later on. They have that over-familiar Franz Ferdinand jerkiness, albeit a little noisier and more muscular than some exponents of that popular sub-genre. There are also traces of Pete Doherty/Kevin Rowland-style warm angst, but done with rather less poise and personality.
Fields were the second, and best, act on show. Their look is pure Dandy Warhols, though their sound is a little different. They have some of the same drone-rocking vibes, but with a greater sense of spectral melancholy and calm, and less cheeky hedonism. Slipping a sad, tender keyboard line over a hazy wall of guitar noise? Oldest trick in the book, but one I fall for every time.
¡Forward Russia! were up next, with their logoed t-shirts and furiously pummelled post-punk sounds. A fellow gig-goer suggests that they’re like Bloc Party without tunes; I have never felt that Bloc Party possess a strong sense of melody, but this comparison is still essentially correct. This band are brutally, unrelentingly tuneless; from their ugly guitar squeals to their quasi-deranged vocal shrieking. It’s hard to pinpoint any sparkling sonic detail that could make sense of the group’s sound either, though some may enjoy the sheer single-mindedness of their brutish stomp.
Wolfmother conclude a rather mixed show, and are certainly the most warmly received live act of the night – although this listener would have some reservations about their rather one-dimensional material. This Aussie trio play beefy, riff-heavy blues-rock that will certainly appeal to fans of The Black Keys and The White Stripes. They are somewhat uncommunicative when put before an audience, but possess an implacable cool that was absent for much of tonight, and their sound is impressively streamlined. Quite good, but there was not much here to make a newcomer such as myself wish to investigate further.
With four bands sharing the bill, perhaps it is unfair to expect sustained brilliance, but this was not a night to make one excited about the future of contemporary rock.