It’s strange how things change over the
years, if you think back to 2003, 4Ft Fingers
were at the top of the UK underground punk rock
scene and so close to breaking into the mainstream,
they had videos on the major music channels, supported
many huge bands across the UK and Europe and even
embarked on a tour across the USA. 4FT Fingers
were one of the most hard working bands in the
scene clocking up 200+ shows each year, if you
went to their shows anywhere across the country
the venues were rammed with kids, dedicated kids
who knew every song word for word. 4FT Fingers
homecoming shows at the Guildhall were a yearly
event coming across every June, the venue was
always sold out in advance with drunken kids everywhere,
the short walk to the toilet was always a mission
with you having to watch every step to make sure
you didn’t stand on 1 of the many kids laying
on the floor passed out.
 Back to the present day, things seem very different,
its 8.50pm and the Guildhall is pretty empty,
there are no kids in sight but instead people
in at least their twenties sinking a pint and
waiting for the main support band to come on,
there is about 70 people in the Guildhall, a venue
that can hold 400 people and would normally be
sold out back in the day. The main support for
tonight is Robb Blake, the lead singer from the
now non existent band Whitmore, a band that were
enjoying major success back in the early 2000's
with many rotating headline tours with the 4FT
Fingers, it was good to see Rob back supporting
4FT Fingers but would of been even better if the
full Whitmore line up was with him. Robb took
to the stage at 9pm and had a 40minute set, a
set that he put 100% effort into, moving around
stage like a mad man, the music he was playing
was quite similar to his Whitmore days but instead
of being a full band it was Robb, his electric
guitar and a drum machine, a few Whitmore songs
were thrown into the show for good measures such
as the classic 'Drop The Bomb'. I can’t
remember many of the song titles for Robb's songs
as I was having too much fun getting into the
music, but I do remember 'From Spain To Endorse
It' the song is a fun ska song that got a small
number of the crowd skanking along. Robb is as
good as a solo artist as he was a frontman for
Whitmore, hens a performer and a good one at that,
he played tonight like he was playing to a packed
out festival, despite only playing to 70 people
at the Guildhall. After Robb finished we headed
to bar.
 We came back to the main hall just as the 4FT
Fingers were taking to the stage, the lights were
off and as the 4FT Fingers were taking to the
stage, the first thing I thought to myself was
wow where did all these people come from, the
venue was a lot busier than 20 minutes ago, there
was easily 200 people maybe even 250 people in
the venue, as soon as 4FT Fingers took to the
stage the crowd kicked off moshing with people
throwing each other all over the venue. 4FT Fingers
had just over an hour set and now 4 albums worth
of tracks to choose from after just releasing
their fourth album 'New Beginnings Of Old Stories'.
All the classic songs were there 'Proud To Know
You, 'Last Man Standing', 'Emergency Manoeuvre',
'Busted', 'A Life We Choose To Live', 'Head Held
High', 'Brickwall', 'One For The Road' etc, each
song was executed perfectly, the crowd was loving
every minute with the majority of people singing
along word for word and half the crowd moshing
along. Many songs from new album 'New Beginnings
Of Old Stories' were played despite the album
only coming out last Monday, most of the crowd
already knew the songs word for word which shows
how hardcore and dedicated the fans of 4FT Fingers
are.
 Midway through the set bassist Kyle Dougles announced
that they have a new cover song, frontman Rob
Crebbin then took over speaking and announced
that the song is by their favourite bummer, he
then went on to tell a story about how he introduced
the song the same way a few nights before at a
show and the bouncer on the door ended up being
a bummer and giving him dodgy looks all night,
luckily the bouncers tonight weren’t gay
and didn’t take any offence, before you
knew it they fired off into the song, a song that
turned out to be 'Im Still Standing' by Elton
John, the crowd started off laughing and seconds
later sang along word for word to what proved
to be a rocking cover. 4FT Fingers are well known
for their cover songs as they have been playing
'Bugsy Malone' for the past 12 years, the song
was in the set tonight and proved to be a massive
sing along affair like normal.
4FT Fingers sure know how to get a crowd going,
they finished off with a small rendition of their
theme song 'Sense Of Direction' with Rob getting
every member of the crowd to sing along "la
la la, la, la, la, la, la", 4FT Fingers left
the stage, the show was over, the lights in the
venue came on, the backing music came on and the
crowd slowly started to filter out but there were
still loud chants of "4FTS 4FTS" with
members of the crowd hoping they would came back
out to play a short encore, an encore never happened
but you could clearly see the dedication and love
for the 4FT Fingers.
 If anyone left the Guildhall tonight feeling
short changed and unhappy then I will be surprised,
4FT Fingers played like they have never been away
from the scene, they gave 110%, they were clearly
having as much fun as the rest of the Guildhall
seemed to be, even the security guards were laughing
along which is quite a rare sight at a gig as
they are normally moody bastards who don’t
appreciate the music. I left the venue tonight
very happy and also with a slightly fucked over
voice from all the singing and shouting, nights
like this don’t come along often enough.
It was good to see 4Ft Fingers back and back to
their best, let’s hope they carry on for
many more years.
Review By Trigger
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