Simon Rushworth
One of many must-see events at Download 2012, the reformation of Little Angels caused a genuine buzz among British rock fans of a certain vintage – festival guru Andy Copping just one of the buzzing spectators transfixed by every minute of a frustratingly short but ever-so-sweet set.
Eight songs was just enough to inspire a gamut of mixed emotions: just as it was incredible to hear tunes like She’s A Little Angel, Radical Your Lover and Boneyard aired with typically boyish charm for the first time in 18 years, the joy of this gig was tempered by the feeling that the band should have set aside their differences a long time since.
Little Angels were – and are – too good to disappear for the best part of two decades. Nobody could deny the sense in allowing grunge to run its depressing course but there was neither rhyme nor reason in leaving it so long to revive a national treasure.
Where fellow early 90s Brit rock heroes Quireboys, Gun and Terrorvision sensed the time was right to reform it took the death of Angels’ former drummer Michael Lee to give Scarborough’s finest an untimely kick up the arse.
Lee’s former band mates paid tribute to his undoubted talent on an emotive rendition of Don’t Pray For Me but this was a joyous celebration of a chart-busting legacy rather than a reflective nod to the distant past.
Frontman Toby Jepson’s tantalising suggestion that Download 2012 is the beginning of a brilliant new chapter for a fantastic rock n roll band was music to the ears of fans schooled on Young Gods, Kickin’ Up Dust and Too Much Too Young.
Little Angels may well have had too much too young 20 years ago but now is surely the time to accept that talent should be treasured and those wasted years used as a reminder that time has never been more precious.
Simon Rushworth