The Blackout
Live at Cockpit on Tuesday, 3rd April 2007
The Cockpit is absolutely packed. In fact, we showed up earlier to find the queue winding all the way back under the arches, left for a swift pint thinking it would calm down, and found a similar sized queue, with different kids when we returned, which was after the doors had opened. This meant a decent sized crowd for opening act The Humour. Theirs is a rockier take on the post-hardcore genre, and a big local following meant some well deserved praise and sing-alongs galore permeated their set and set a tempo any band following would find hard to keep up with.
That of course, is any band but Kids In Glass Houses. The Welsh superstars in waiting elicited such a response to their sugary pop melodies that I and most of the people around me were quite literally knocked off our feet. Although the bittersweet, lovelorn anthems are not to everyone's tastes (mine included), it is easy to see why the industry is currently salivating, which is why weather we like it or not, KIGH will be everywhere in 2007.
I'd love to be able to say the same for headliners The Blackout. Although they're a slick, smooth, damn near flawless live act, with an album almost to match, one can't help shake the feeling that they won't get as far as they should. Industry gripes aside, The Blackout are near unstoppable tonight. The songs are tight, and between they're absolutely hilarious. I could go into detail about how each song does a certain something but it has all been said before, bottom line is the set was phenomenal, the atmosphere was great, and the band are on top form. With a couple of new songs aired tonight it looks like things can only get bigger for the Valley boys. Lets just hope the industry allows it and the emo Zeitgeist lasts a little bit longer.
