I’ll start by being honest – I don’t like Million Dead. When I admit this, people usually look at me as if I’m stupid or as if they want to break my jaw. I’m sorry…I really don’t know why I don’t like them, maybe I’m jealous of Julia because every guy I know fancies the pants off her and I don’t look like her. This evening however, I was pleasantly surprised by Frank Turner’s acoustic set. With a raspy voice able to melt the hardest of hearts, Million Dead’s lead singer looks about as scene as your local window cleaner. His ear grasping lyrics made the audience both laugh and reflect…whilst making every budding songwriter fume with jealousy.
If tonight was a gurning contest, Engerica’s frontman would have scooped first prize before the first song had even been played. With a face that seemed to be made out of plasticine, Dave Gardener pulled faces throughout the set, a confusing technique which distracted my concentration on their music. I enjoyed their style, not too dissimilar from Reuben but I think they’re a band who sound better recorded than live…they seemed to love themselves a bit too much to be taken seriously. They enjoyed covering up their arrogance by constantly taking the piss out of their performance, oh the jokers! Err yeah. Plus the drummer looked like one of the cabbies out of Coronation Street and I just couldn’t get that idea out of my head.
Next were Drive Like You Stole It who were alright but forgettable. As I have said before, lead singer Mel has a beautiful voice which I could only dream of having but as a band they just don’t leave a lasting impression. They just seemed to be a comfortable choice of support which was a shame but left the audience chewing on anticipation ready for the headliners.
Reuben are a band who never fail to disappoint. Even at the start when lead singer and guitarist Jamie Lenman had a number of guitars pack up on him, he still sang with a cheeky grin on his face and bassist Jon and drummer Guy still put all their energy into their performance to make up for it. It was a bad start…but it didn’t matter because it just made Reuben seem even more genuine than they already are.
Tonight’s show seemed a lot different from any other time I’ve seen the band perform, all three just seemed absolutely overwhelmed by the positive response of the audience. Throughout the night, Jamie looked like he’d just scored the winning goal at a primary school football match and he kept thanking the audience for being there. Their rendition of ‘Missing Fingers’ was more energetic than Timmy Mallet on red bull and old favourites such as ‘Let’s Stop Hanging Out’ and ‘Freddy Kreuger’ went down pretty damn well.
With a new album release just round the corner, it struck me as odd that Reuben only chose to play three or four new tracks. I wasn’t necessarily disappointed as ‘Racecar Is Racecar Backwards’ has more crowd pleasers than a Queen tribute act but it was just odd that they didn’t choose to promote their new album. They even seemed a little nervous when playing ‘A Kick In The Mouth’, fair enough seeing as it is the least intelligent of all the songs they’ve written, a static and lifeless tune with lyrics that sounded as if they were written on the way to the studio. I may have sung my heart out to the classics but tonight’s performance made me more apprehensive about their new album…will it have songs I’ll be singing to in six months time? Here’s hoping.
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