Haven
Live at Rocket on Tuesday, 2nd October 2001
Bouncing verily between musical styles are THE 'BURN. Mixing prog moments with occasional yee-haw down home geeetar and harmonica before shutting up shop with a rousing 'Storm In Heaven'-era Verve-alike sound. This only goes part of the way to exorcise the faux pas of the Gomez-a-like tripe served up in the main.
The third time in as many months that HAVEN have played Leeds and yet the too cool crowd (apart from a few die-hards at the front) ain't exactly welcoming them like heroes. And the question is - why the feckin' hell not? Okay so they're Manchester-based, but come on - how many gigs like this are you going to see this Autumn? Anyway, they're not Mancs - guitarist Nat met Gary in a St.Ives record shop when they both lived down in the deepest depths of Cornwall. Figuring out they should get a band together, their natural talent soon had them relocating to Manchester in early '99 after the mighty Joe Moss (ex-Smiths svengali) found them on his hols. From then on they played a stacks in Manc-land and worked with the even mightier Johnny Marr. Under such masterful tutelage and pop fairy dust sprinkling of the ex-Smiths legend they honed a bunch of stunning choons that are out on their debut album in the near future.
Every track tonight is an anthem - every one spanking gorgeous. Past singles 'Til the End' and 'Beautiful Friend' sure show the simple but deadly formula - Nat's swaggering guitar and Gary's soaring vocals. In sum, classic indie pop. Of course, Forthcoming single 'Let It Live', 'Still Tonight' and the sublime 'Say Something' all play within those same parameters, invoking massive emotion, huge choruses, songs so engagingly catchy you'll swear you'll have heard them before. Like all the best things, it's all over in flash. It's back to reality with a bump as the DJ in the bar cranks up a slimy slab of nu-metal as the club turns into 'Slam Dunk' Nu-Metal and Rock night. As the pierced, oh-so rebelliously dressed hoards of freshers and sixth-formers file in, you feel just kind of sorry for them that they didn't turn up an hour or so earlier - they might just have seen something that could have persuaded them out of their shite-music phase...