 Well thanks to a guy that was working on the tour,
he got me a photo pass, so i could shoot the gig,
after been left of the guest list, good thing
i got there early enough. So to him, i thank you.
Looking around at the crowd, I, one felt really
old and two felt so outta place as i didnt have
an brightly colored clothes on, or a daft haircut
or have stupid glasses with no lenses in them
on
The Chapman Family, are a 4 piece from Scotland,
and this is there first time in Birmingham, the
band are quite active on the stage, with there
alternative punk rock sound, which at times wasn't
very tuneful and was messy but they had some good
moments too, but they gave it 110%,but after the
3rd song a guitar string broke and they had no
back up so they were cutting the set short. The
singer Kingsley decided to strangle himself not
once but twice on stage with the cord of the mic,
and then using a drum stick under the strings
of his already beaten up guitar, as a make shift
slide bending the crap outta the strings on the
last song, then thrashing his guitar some more.
 Another 4 piece band that played there own brand
of catchy pop rock were the Magistrates, the songs
were simple but also drum beat driven making them
toe tappingly good, songs of note were 'If I',
'Make This Work' and there next single Heartbreak.
the last song they played,color, sound abit like
a 70s dance tune only it was pretty good, the
drumming in particular was really good,all the
songs had solid beats to them which were really
good, the singer had a good voice, altho high
pitched mostly but not annoying, it was a good
set, and could go far as they were well received
by the crowd.
the main support act was Heartbreak, with there
brand of electro/synth pop, with only 5 songs
on there setlist the songs were mostly epic affairs
going on past the 5 minute mark, the singer looked
like Borat only acted fairly bizarre at times,
and danced badly at times, doing the robot a few
times. other than appearances the music want too
bad if a bit too lengthy, the drumming was a mix
of real drums and electric drum pads, which mixed
up things a fair bit, the first 4 songs went by
with out much notice really, but the fifth and
last song was much better than the rest, sounded
like it came from the 80s and was really good,
the track in question was called 'My Tears Electro'
with its chorus, which was really catchy. By now
the room was pretty much filled waiting for the
one with the epic quiff.
 La Roux, a 3 piece electro outfit, fronted by
Elle Jackson who at times sounded like Annie Lennox,
who's also it has to be said wont show her bum
after some heckling from two front row annoying
girls, but Elle did offer up the male member of
the groups Arse tho, but he declined the offer
to bare all for the crowd, through out the set
which included songs, 'Quicksand', 'Fasination'
, hit song 'In for the kill' and latest single
'Bullet Proof', those last two songs, were the
encore. Elle pretty muched carried the set, from
start to finish with the other two members keeping
there heads down on the far left and right of
the stage keeping the electro songs as good as
can be, but showing some signs of life would have
been good to see from them, but nevermind. Elle
danced and sang her way through the gig, entertaining
the crowd with good showmanship. The band was
on fine form tonite just like the that amazing
quiff.
La Roux 4/5
Heartbreak 3/5
The Magistrates 4/5
The Champman Family 3/5
Review By Rob Lawrence |
