The Futureheads - Institute Dec. 6 '19

Cut Glass Kings
It was so odd to be in a nearly desolate Institute. Seriously, it seemed like there were 25 people in the whole place when we entered at 6:20pm on a Saturday night in December. Too bad for those that had tickets because the two-piece guitar and drum duo were putting on a decent show. Loud and full of classic rock (not Classic Rock) riffs they powered through the set, seemingly not put off by the attendance that didn't even double during their short set.



Indoor Pets

Still playing to a cavernous (and cold!) space, this four-piece put on an enteraining set of poppy, indie rock somewhere in the realm of Weezer Green-era, though perhaps that was just the singer's Rivers glasses that got me thinking that. His glasses sat upon his nose which did most of his singing, in a very distinct, minorly annoying, nasal fashion. It was definitely unique but once I got over it I was happy to report that the boys did a fine job of beating their recorded-music expectations.




The Futureheads
Celebrating a fifteen-year anniversary of their beloved self-titled debut the Sunderland quartet, that often sing a-cappella like a barbershop quartet, were playing it in its entirety on this evening. Having caught them way back in the day, originally as Franz Ferdinand openers and after that whenever they toured through Toronto, it was definitely a night rooted in nostalgia. And even though they did play through the old tunes it isn't a band strictly revelling in the glory days as they still have the musical interplay that always set them above the rest. Not to mention comical interplay too as they interluded songs with origin stories and any chance to get a lick in on each other. One such story did both in telling how The City Is Here For You To Use was about the then-sixteen year old drummer crying in a tube station in London when they first started gigging there. Another revealed that the singer used to have to write the bass parts as well since the bass player wasn't good enough yet and they remarked that one with a particuarly "fruity bass line" (their words) must have been as a punishment for pissing him off. "Here, try and learn this, ya tall c*nt." From opener Le Garage, through highlights such as Decent Days & Nights, "not every song needs to be about something" Alms, nearly instrument-free Danger of the Water, and frenetic First Day they proved that they've still got the magic. Yet it was in the closing two tracks that they absolutely won me back over. As always the split-chanting crowd gave their amazing take on Hounds of Love true glory but equally good was Man Ray to close it all down. Their quote-unquote lead singer was battling a throat infection so they rightly took a break following the album but were gracious enough to return and burn through a few more for us. Fittingly they played three highlights from the recently released Powers that you'd think they would be touring, and the material held up. I'm particularly partial to Good Night Out but Jekyll and Electric Shock were good too. As a finale they threw another classic, Beginning of the Twist, before waving us off having surely pleased longtime fans and excited those catching them for the first time alike.

Fontaines DC - Institute Nov 25, '19

Fontaines were.. rather disappointing, I have to say. Hardly any words were spoken - he might have said 'thank you' after the final song and he did grumble something about we they do encores before it but literally those were the only words (and I couldn't understand them anyway). The first half was all the shitty songs from their only album (starting with Hurricane Laughter, followed by Chequeless Reckless) which are basically one-riff on repeat and 1 line repeated over and over until line 2 which gets repeated and then back to line 1. They stood stock still except the singer who acted like a bored little boy, pacing in small circles and looking at his nails and stomping his mic stand. That was literally the "show". They did add an unreleased song in Televised Mind which was interesting for its novelty, at least.

The second half was only saved 'cuz it was better music, songs that had more than one chord each, but the on-stage was the exact fucking same. Zero interaction with us, or with each other, except when the singer cut not one but two songs from their already brief set. Following the previously mentioned new tune they were presumably going to play another new track (seeing as they played all 11 Dogrel songs) but it got axed. Then the guitar tech had already tuned them up for a track but the singer called an audible and then told us this was their last song meaning he cut another one right at the end. The whole thing came in well under an hour which if you're headlining a massively sold out gig in a decently big hall you've got to give us something more. Musically it was fine - the sound wasn't that great in this venue though. Stand-outs like Too Real, Boys in the Better Land, and closer, Big, got the crowd going and rightfully so, but to me it shouldn't have taken much given the anticipation to get people into it and yet the crowd seemed rather reserved for much of the night (from my vantage point just off the edge of the sometimes-pit.) One standout track was the slightly more nuanced Television Screen that at least showed the guys had a different gear.

I can see if they had opened for Idles and just straight rocked for 30 minutes and only played the good stuff that it would have been a great "surprise" but as headliners I'll give 'em a bit of a "fuck off". At the End of the Road festival this summer they also got a pass from me 'cuz they were in a massive fucking tent in the middle of the day and I was stuck at the back trying not to be anti-social. I just assumed that if I was up front that it would have been great but, alas, now I know my answer - No.

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Warm Drag opened and while I only caught the final song and a half (having previewed them before arrival) I think I got the gist of it. Playing music akin to The Kills the male worked a synthesizer over a drum machine while the woman sang and shrieked into the mic. Not entirely bad it wasn't anything for me to get excited about.

Vistas, Circa Waves - Institute - April 23, '19

Vistas
As promised the Edinburgh buzz band of the moment, Vistas, took to the stage with the 4 of them at a combined age under 70. The kids in the crowd about the same vintage were pumped up and before the end of song one were pushing back to start a pit. Perhaps not yet commanding the stage with swagger they at least looked comfortable up there and properly played their instruments to boot. The drummer seemed to be taking his job very seriously and it paid off while the singer was just as good with his electric axe as the mic, chatting Birmingham up a little too. Guitar and bass to the sides diligently did their jobs while everyone ate it up. To be honest, the first half of the set was above average but not necessarily standout, however by the time they hit their groove it got real good. Calm was the highlight for me, both recorded and live now, though Retrospect and closer, Tigerblood, were also done real well. By the time they're done with their autumn headline tour I'm sure they'll be fully set and ready to take on the world.


TNC - The Night Cafe
The four lads had the crowd pushing around from the get go, but it was one of those kind of shows as between sets felt like a club night at Snobs with the chanting along and jumping up and down. I'd be fine with it but the activity didn't match the music. It was fairly straight tempo rock, sang with a decent voice that wasn't as Liverpudlian as their banter. The singer and drummer chatted a little, mostly drumming up sales for their upcoming headline tour and merch. The penultimate song had all the womenfolk singing along "you're addicted to me" while the finale brought the tempo up slightly for people to bop around to again.


Circa Waves

This might be the type of showmanship that the guys from Vista could draw inspiration from. The four members came on stage with swagger - I mean you've got to when you have enough strobe lights to brighten a coal mine and five cannons spewing pyrotechnics meters into the air. Musically I would hope that Vistas will take their strong start and surpass the offerings from these fellas - not that CW are bad with their upbeat indie rock but there are higher heights to hit. Time Won't Change Me went over well with me, while most anything else went down with the hyperactive young crowd. I'll admit that I sheltered just under the overhang to avoid dripping beer and too much of the constant swell that consumed most of the dance floor. That wasn't even when the band tried to split the audience to have them collapse on each other as a singalong hit. The set closer was Fire that Burns, appropriately using orange strobes and a spray of sparks as background. Despite one of the quietest, most lacklustre encore breaks (grumble, grumble, entitled generation..) Circa Waves came back for a couple anyhow, of course. Sticking with the literal they played Goodbye - not sure if it's a normal phenomenon for half the crowd to get on the shoulders of the other half to sway along to this ballad. As true finale they asked the seated upper deck (of a near sellout) to stand up and singalong as they fired up the pyro again.

SWMRS, Destroy Boys - Institute - Mar 11, 2019

SWMRS have carved out a niche for themselves in the under-18 crowd. A strong mixed-sex crowd showed up downstairs at the Institute (some lugging their parents along to stand, roped-off, at the back). From the get-go these four fellas had the crowd eating out of their hands, despite the somewhat straightforward banter although I did like after an individual cheer for each of the openers they said "and now the most important cheer... for your moms!" It was good clean fun with a giant swell of a pit going for pretty much the entire night that cleared those of us not feeling as into it to the sidelines or back beside the sound booth while the rest moshed about. Picking from only two albums the hour long set-list consisted of pretty much everything, though my favourite moment was probably the Bloc Party cover of Helicopter that really proved their chops to me in how tight they were. Earlier in the set they were not very impressive musically but it may have just been the sound, with the vocals lost deep in the mix. For the most part it was upbeat and rocking, new tracks including the title from last month's Berkeley's On Fire hit their mark, though they did mix in their brooding Miley Cyrus loving tune later on, and the chilled first album closer, Lose It. I won't pretend to know all their songs but they probably hit their high point on the third from last when I expected them to call it. Seeing as they didn't encore I could pretend that this was their set closer and the next two which didn't match quite the intensity were the encore. All in all they were pretty good but I may just leave them for the kids next time and stay home with the record.

Zuzu definitely pushed the punk out of the room with some more straightforward songs. I'm not even sure how to classify it as despite her decent vocals the music was rather blasé. Her speaking voice on the other hand.. I couldn't make sense of it. She claims to be from Liverpool but that didn't sound like any Scouse I've heard before. Is she putting it on? Am I that sheltered? 

Destroy Boys are a bunch of girls out to destroy the male dominated punk rock world. Maybe not destroy it but show that they definitely deserve their own place in it. Every one of them demonstrated their way around their instrument and as a whole they write a solid rock song. With long hair and tees they played their way through an entirely too short set and had the kids in the audience moshing along (not that this was too hard, but still). I'd keep an eye out as they seem like their just at the start of a fruitful career.

Big Character were up first once we got through the queue of teenagers out on the sidewalk. There was very little to set these guys apart from much of anything else.

Idles, Heavy Lungs - Institute, Birmingham - Oct 26, 2018

Heavy Lungs
The band were all over the stage, in a good way. The drummer, shirtless from the outset, was either screaming into the mic (not singing, shrieking) or sticking his tongue out KISS style for the entirety of the set. Meanwhile the singer (the Danny Nedelko) couldn't dance but he sure did move - essentially repeating a chosen gyration a bunch of times until deciding to move on to the next. Arms swinging, head swirling, whatever it was it filled every gap between his vocals. In time he also removed his shirt and began doing push-ups on the kick drum. These two were the scene for me although the guitarist was pretty impressive, more for his actual musical talent. I can't say the music was mind-blowing yet I did enjoy it. Despite listening to their limited selection of online tunes a few times through in preparation I only recognized one of them when it was played live and it was the only slightly slower song of the set. Altogether it was a powerful, enjoyable showing of a hugely energetic group on the upswing.


Idles
With a 10pm curfew the room filled in swiftly between 7:30 when the openers hit the stage and 8:30 when the main event were due. In the past year, almost to the day, Idles have gone from headlining a mini local festival for a couple hundred to easily selling out the gorgeous Institute for a couple thousand not just fans but rabid admirers. The cheers began as Jon, the drummer, casually took his place at the kit, followed by Mr Beauty Beard (Adam) who revved things up drum and bass style, so to speak, with a protracted intro to Colossus, until the rest of the members arrived. And with the first snarl from Joe, the floor was transformed into a roiling pit that would not let up throughout the rest of the set.

Obviously being the Joy as an Act of Resistance tour they pulled heavily from the new release (playing everything but June actually), with an early highlight being Danny Nedelko, including an appearance from the inspiration for the song himself that ended with a kiss shared with Joe. Also during that tune the guitarist came down to the edge of the crowd to lead the spelling bee. The crowd ate up the hilarious Never Fight a Man with a Perm, shouting out the title to add punctuation to the tune. When Joe asked who here was scum plenty answered his call and voiced it loudly. So as not to keep early adopters waiting too long they dipped back into Mother and also tossed Heal/Heel into the mix with alternating thumbs up and down for each burst of the title.

Love Song didn't offer much new played live versus the record but it did give us a chance to hug our friends or consenting strangers on Joe's request which saw this reviewer in a joyous four-way hug with a mixed assemblage of punks. It was also around this time in the set they changed it up as the band started pulling people from the crowd onto the stage to sing, dance and play along. Yes, play! They gave out drum sticks and even a guitar to one girl to strum although she had no idea how and ended up on someone's shoulders by the end of the song, still clutching it. Easily a dozen lucky people clambered over the rail and onto the stage until the end of Exeter when Joe had to shoo them off. "I don't want to be rude but if I don't tell you to go you'll forget we're trying to put on a gig here and want to stay for a chat. It happened in Leeds!"

Television (or was it Cry to Me?) was introed by Joe with a quick word about depression, as he's known to be vocal about, well, being vocal and reaching out if in need. While he explained that Gram Rock was about the utter dummies (my word, I forget his) running the country, two of whom snorted cocaine at a funeral (in this apparently imagined scenario). The song then gave us the surreal experience of screaming "ten points for Gryffindor" in public.

Of course, it all crescendoed as mandatory Well Done revved everyone up and then Rottweiler signaled the end of the night. It still seems odd to have the face of the band leave halfway through the finale and skip the curtain call but alas the rest of the boys made a spectacle of it, drowning our cheers out with feedback and reverb. Mark came down to crowd surf, then back on stage balanced his axe on his head before skipping it like a jump rope, and then sliding it across the stage.
Although it was exhausting to even remain on two feet in the pit with all the commotion we still chanted along to Samaritans and found the breath to spell out our review of the gig - G.R.E.A.T. They're great!

Young Fathers - Institute 2 - March 20, '18

Entering the stage one by one, the drummer followed by the three vocalists - pinstripes (Alloysious), the guy who poses (Kayus), and button-down (G)- took their places in front of the sold out smaller Institute room. With the recent release of their excellent third LP, Cocoa Sugar, there is another wave of buzz around this Scottish outfit that despite being slightly mellower this time out, still refuse to be pigeonholed. They started up with a slow builder before getting into it. A good selection of the new stuff was on offer, with tracks like Toy coming across even better live. Same with Tremolo and Wow, and seeing the already great In My View brought to life was special indeed. Not sure what I was expecting in terms of instrumentation, there was a large drum kit centred around one giant drum, played standing with oversized felt-tipped sticks, and a bass drum side stage for Alloysious. Both these kits had absolutely mangled cymbals that crashed and died out with very little sizzle, adding to the low-fi effect. Besides that there was a bank of effects that G would fiddle with his back to us but it was primarily prerecorded tracks. And that was just fine as it was their vocals - singing, rapping, layered, yelping, yelling - that made it. The crowd seemed to need a shot in the arm early on so they dropped Get Up to get the crammed peeps grooving. Little later on was Old Rock n Roll, while a special track from the EPs was I Heard. There was very limited interaction between the members or with the audience besides one call and response track opener. Then they stood in the dark for an extended period before asking Birmingham what we wanted. Some wanted to party, others to dance, others wanted Shame, and they all got just what they wanted as Young Fathers closed with their ultimate ass-shaker. With that they exited one-by-one stage-left while Kayus belted it out until he too departed. Despite an effort by the fans to overcome the house music, and then the house lights they did not return, choosing to leave it at what felt like a brief hour-long dose of..whatever you call it.. I still can’t stick a title on it but it was damn fun. 

Wwwater

This gal sang over some mixed tracks and drums provided by her two male accomplices. Her voice wasn't bad but there was very little variation between the songs. Even within the songs themselves things seemed to get repetitive and this was on first listen. An impressive vocal display near the end gets some props but I likely won't be adding it to my playlists.

At The Drive In, Death From Above 1979 - Institute - March 12, 2018

The original reunion tour of the unlikely reunion of At the Drive In got serious interest but a new album tour seems to have attracted far less attention, given the ticket deals and eventual downsizing of the venue. It was still busy but not to capacity. The five of them took to the stage, originals besides a swapped out Jim Ward (backing vocals, guitar, Sparta) and launched into it. I’d like to say that the whole room kicked off but the truth is it was a limited response. Things did build as I moved up into the pit by the second or third tune. The set list was well crafted, playing a couple new ones from the decent Interalia (2017) but more importantly a good selection of the old songs that we’d come here for ("we", the thirty-somethings whose youth was spent downloading Relationship of Command from Kazaa song by song, drawing our allegiances to the various ATDI offshoots on internet message boards.) Napoleon Solo got the pit moving early, while everyone’s favourite One Armed Scissor was unceremoniously played just past the halfway point. I was pleased for a live rendition of Invalid Litter Dept. even if Cedric Bixler did adjust the vocal tempo at times. Still under his signature Afro, albeit a rather thinned out one, he was doing his best to play the outrageous frontman and belie his age and shape; heel-kicking the mic, stomping the custom stand, flinging the cable. He did put on quite a performance. It was Omar Rodriguez-Lopez that I was interested in most though and so I worked my way through the pit to be lined up in front of him. Despite the askew hat he wasn’t particularly showy, mind you his playing speaks for itself. Without needing to ham it up his guitar work was still stellar and great to see live. They returned to encore despite a mediocre call for one and pleased most with Pattern Against User. For this olden day fan it pushed the right buttons, maybe not jamming them all simultaneously but was satisfying nonetheless.

Death From Above 1979

With the Physical World, DFA's "comeback" album it took a live rendition to properly drive the songs home and make me fully realise them. Jesse and Seb's performance of the follow-up, Outrage is Now!, was unable to do the same, in fact pushing the latest tunes further from my heart. Granted they were an opening band probably well-tired of their now 13 year old debut but to only play one song, a deeper cut at that in Goin' Steady, is a bit of a snub to fans. While album one got one song, album two only had two, meaning this lacklustre show was primarily new material. Although not awful it made for an underwhelming set that long-time fans would be ultimately disappointed in.

Funeral for a Friend - Farewell Tour - Institute - Apr 13, 2016

The opening band had five members convulsing around the stage. Their name was Zoax which I believe was meant to rhyme with "hoax" but really rhymed with jokes! (ha) The singer staggered around the room singing into people's faces and then climbed to the balcony to do the same. Only thing was it was a corded mic so the real drama was watching the Tech wrangling wires up to the second deck. Overall they were okay, bit more screamo than I'm into these days, but improved as the set went on.

Shai Hulud just didn't have a melody. I don't know how FFAF said they were all fans before they even met each other and it was their one combined influence. The final song was dreadful and I was waiting for it to pass. My friend, who had tickets for both nights (Casually Dressed was the next night), was wondering how she'd get through them again Thursday but I believe it was Shai's last night on tour.

FFAF compared to these guys sounded crisp and solid. The chugging bass riffs and soaring guitars lit up the audience who had not reacted much previously. A sold-out place - it was packed - but on the opening bars of Hours the pit started and the air changed. The album live was awesome and it brought me back to my red VW Golf on highway 9 between Bradford and Guelph in 2005. I stood too long with my petite friend at the back before giving into the itch to mosh around track five. Some burly, topless men raged - I watched one have his bro yank his meaty arm to pop his disjointed shoulder back into place - but it was all in fun. Wasn't sure what the post-Hours set would be like or if there even would be. The band left and the singer did a solo tune with an electric guitar. It wasn't terrible but it was too slow after the vibe of that album, which already ends with a couple more restrained tunes. He jokingly chided people at the beginning to STFU but it wasn't an actual joke and they still didn't. You know what they did? They clapped along to this ballad - such wankers. Band rejoined and they ripped through a healthy extra half dozen songs, none of which I knew because they weren't Hours or Casually Dressed (for obvious reasons) but sounded alright. I made my way back to my friend and was glad she wasn't annoyed with me for having buggered off. The singer got sentimental about the last night and seemed authentic about it which was nice, however it was made awkward by the "how many of you are coming to see us tomorrow? Well, this isn't for you" introduction. Overall I was pleased that I went never having seen them before and think higher of the band having seen them in their send-off.