First up are an intriguing prospect called Jail. This band features a front man armed with a yellow fluorescent tube (lit up, of course), wandering around the stage and the crowd and it's not really obvious if he knows what he's doing or not. His band mates look on bemused and the whole set seems like one big game of chicken as to who bottles out first to finish a song. Musically, we can hear bits of Pavement, Half Man Half Biscuit, Stranglers and The Fall. But this is nowhere near the full story and the album is just as confusing. Best songs are "Circle Line", about the mundanity of London existence and closer "Renaissance Man". A look at this bunch is advised.
With a name like The Container Drivers, you might expect some sort of Fall-esque racket and potential shambles. This is what we get, with the drummer struggling with the pace from the word go. The guitarist promises us a scissor kick later, but sadly we only get a 1 armed scissor kick. Low roof, you see. As the set progresses, confidence and ability shine through, we get a cover of "Don't Laugh" by the Wedding Present and the guitarist keeps the authenticity of the original by leaving a good layer of his own blood over his now yellow and red Gibson. Last song "The Ex Members Of The Fall Club" does what you might expect - lists all the people who've played and suffered under Mark E. Smith's tenure and features the classic couplet "You're totally fired, totally fired" - Fall fans in the audience chuckle.
Being 747 start with hopefully (hint, hint) future single "DIY Prescriptions", a dark brooding, beast of a number. There's also a delicious taster of their next LP - a complete working of David Attenborough's "Life On Earth" series. You see, this band educate as well as delivering premier pop music. By the time we get to "Promises" though, it's clear frontman Dave Cooke is struggling with what can only be described as a fucked voice. This leads to a bit of a rant about the lack of pints of water for artists, although the broken voice box makes it sound like a Norman Collier outtake. Post Fisherman's Friends, sherry and a magically appearing pint of water, "Music Of The Clones" returns the band to full on business. The set ends with last year's single "Weathergirl", as Cooke explains "We start sounding like the Fall, and end up like Procol Harum" - does life get better than that?
Gig Date: Friday, 21st January 2005 | 718 page views.
