NME Tour - O2 Academy Glasgow
The NME Tour is currently on it’s yearly trek across the musical hubs of Great Britain and this year sees a line up to challenge any of the previous incarnations - The Vaccines, Everything Everything, Magnetic Man and Crystal Castles.
With any gig that has four such fine bands of such contrasting styles performing it is only fair to look at every bands performance individually.
The Vaccines - The new up and coming indie kids on the block. A lot has been written about The Vaccines and the band are riding a wave of good publicity thanks in no small part to their inclusion in the BBC Sound of 2011 at number 3. I have to hold my hands up and admit that they are a band I haven’t rushed out to listen to and on this evidence I won’t be doing so anytime soon. The band are obviously very accomplished musicians but everything they do other bands are doing better and have been for longer. Their sound goes from something a kin to the high pitched twang of The Kooks in one song to the catchy lyrics trademarked by bands such as The Wombats in the next. Whilst it is great for a band to draw on their piers for influences The Vaccines have taken it a step too far and seem to have forgotten to engineer their own sound and find their niche instead of trying to sneak into someone else's. I am sure this won’t hold them back in the modern world of music though and they will no doubt have a successful 2011.
Everything Everything - Whilst The Vaccines might be not be trying anything new, Everything Everything most certainly are. The boys bring together so many musical influences from so many genres it is hard, actually it’s impossible, to pigeon hole them into any one category. From song to song the boys race through musical genres ranging from Drum and Bass to Electro to inspired vocal rich Indie. Their set was positively eerie at times due to the bewitching vocals of Jonathan, the lead singer. His vocals are utterly unique in the todays musical hemisphere and contain a depth that allows you to become lost in the lyrics. Without a doubt the stand out tracks must be first debut single “Suffragette Suffragette” with it’s encompassing riffs and current single “Photoshop Handsome” which despite the fact it is being loved to death by Fearne Cotton is a finely tuned yet bizarrely brilliant look at modern day society. Everything Everything owned the stage with their energy, dashing matching outfits and their desire to make the crowd bounce made everyone forget about the storm raging outside in the bleak streets of Glasgow.
Magnetic Man - As is to be expected the NME Tour attracts a high percentage of teeny boppers and the average age on the night must have boarding around 16. With this age group in mind it was a surprise to me the reaction that Magnetic Man received when they took to the stage. As separate performers Magnetic Man have been around for years ripping up dance floors across the world in various incarnations. Yet their hard hitting bass and energizing MC saw a mass of sweaty teenage bodies bounce away for nigh on 45 minutes. The next generation of clubbers was born!
Crystal Castles - I want to start this part of the review by saying that me and the lead singer of Crystal Castles, Alice Glass, have history. Not in some romantic way though but rather in a she has let me down time and time again sort of way. This was the third time that I have seen Crystal Castles perform and the first time that she hasn’t ruined the experience with her pathetic behavior. Now you may think that her ability to get through a set without having security stop their performance due to her jumping into the crowd swinging punches or falling all over the place utterly plastered might show a maturing in the talented front woman but sadly it doesn’t. Instead it shows that she had injured her ankle so was consigned to the stage and robbed of her normal absurd behavior by a set of crutches. Okay she did still scale a set of speakers for “Baptism” but this was relatively timid considering her normal antics. Working through a back catalogue of classics such as “Courtship Dating” and “Crimewave” and mixing in current floor filler “Not In Love” was a recipe for a crowd to go utterly mental. Without the normal distractions Crystal Castles performed an outstanding gig full of energy and the intense sounds that have made them one of the stand out performers of the last couple of years. I just hope that Alice Glass doesn’t go back to her old ways when the cast and crutches are removed.
Cally Russell
