Simon Rushworth
@ Newcastle o2 Academy II, September 16 2010
Through the legions of screaming girls Elliot Minor appeared in a front of an almost ear-piercing shriek.
It’s been a while since we were last graced with this pretty band’s presence and the York five-piece was straight into the non-offensive family friendly rock.
The lads were showcasing tunes from the surprisingly well-received Solaris – however this performance had none of the drive or even interest you’d have hoped for.
Despite an almost epic intro including various strains of classical music by the time the band had kicked into Electric High their performance was already lagging. In contrast their audience was full of life and reacting to every song with great enthusiasm.
Frontman Alex Davies’ on stage banter was limited to say the least with the only notable point being when he informed us that original bass player Ed Hetherton was absent due to a unfortunate case of diarrhoea.
Davies didn’t seem to be comfortable being the centre of attention as he frequently threw his mic to the crowd or left singing duties to guitarist Ed Minton. The set began to drag incessantly with Lucky Star seeming to last forever.
Davies’ voice finally went during Shiver with the obligatory microphone squeals to compound the agony for him. There was a brief respite for the band with a decent rendition of Parallel Worlds but, by then, the majority of audience had been bored into submission.
A show that seemed more like a school disco ended like many a school disco would, in complete boredom.
Tom Walsh