YROCK Inaugural Gig - Fury Murray's, 5th December 2007
Review written by Fraser McFarlane
So I showed up later than I had hoped to the first ever (momentous occasion here) YROCK gig. Actually, it worked out really well, because what I showed up to was the magic word: atmosphere. The place was a mess of band t-shirts, black eye make up and high spirits. Not bad.
The first band on, Second Hand Superman, sat on-stage already looking very relaxed. Two boys with fringes and guitars, and a pretty girl with a microphone. It was the perfect opener; the front woman had a soft voice and the guitars were never too loud, drawing clear influence from Paramore - including several of their covers, the threesome gave a fair showing. Before their last offering, one of the guitarists admitted to having only formed in the past week, and while we could perhaps have guessed this, it just goes to show what this band could do with some solid practice behind them.
Second in line were To The Glory Of, an emo/pop-punk three-piece who obviously drew heavily on influences from the likes of Blink 182 and The Ataris. The tunes were pretty generic, but melodic and tuneful; the drummer really going for it too.
The next act / acts took the form of Micheal and Rachael, with the rest of the band staying to form MWI. Both put on an amazing show with a fantastic array of covers, from Paolo Nutini’s New Shoes, to Valerie by The Zutons, recently popularized by Amy Winehouse. They followed this up with a song called Desire, telling us it was written (and available to buy from) their piano player Micheal. The band were so good, in fact, that they were asked for an encore, and hit back with Valerie for the second time with the entire crowd singing along.
Last, but by no means least, were The Biatches, who counted several of the other bands amongst their fans, it seemed. The front man was oozing stage presence over the first row of fans, and the drummer played like a man possessed. The bassist advertised the bands obvious influences in sticker form on her guitar and the lead guitarist finally got to plug in, having walked around the venue clutching his guitar all night.
The band played well; the front man dedicating one of the first songs to his mum, playing a fantastic pop-punk effort called IM Girl and even getting an audience member up to rap. They finished with a huge anthem; the singer topless and yelling ‘We are the no-hope generation!’ at the top of his lungs.
All in all, a good night. |
