Roll back, just for a minute to March 30th. Imagine
the disappointment on the faces of thousands of
SFG fans who turned up at the Academy... Only
to discover front man Roy Stride had lost his
voice. No to cheeky little ditties that seem to
lean towards a life of unrequited love. The pillows
of Birmingham must have seen a few tears that
fateful night.
Almost a month later they've rescheduled, and
Birmingham is the first of the
remaining dates. So almost like a new tour then....
We arrived shortly before the doors opened.
Now, at a lot of gigs I go to
people are just too cool to queue, but not this
band of Wolf cubs. I'm
pretty sure a couple of them have actually stayed
there since March 30th.
These guys are a loyal band of fans... Which doesn't
go unnoticed by the
band.
The first thing that struck me was the age range.
To start with it's
looking like a kids party, with hyped up pre pubes
jostling at the front, and
a row of slightly embarrassed parents in a row
along the back. I can't
decide which camp I truly belong to, so grab a
spot behind an 8yr old boy
who seems to be farting pretty much constantly
with excitement :(
Before long the first support band jump on stage...
Go:Audio. My first
thought of these guys was that they looked a lot
like a strong contender for
Eurovision. In fact, given the UK's poor performance
at the weekend I think
Go:Audio could well have made us proud. They played
a pretty tight set,
full of energy, and they were perfect for the
SFG crowd. There was so much
jumping at one point I thought there was a pogo
stick giveaway at the merch
desk!
 But guys... I need to know more about the glow
sticks. Apparently they were
denied the opportunity to throw them into the
crowd?!? Why?
Next up were Clocks. Before they arrived on stage,
two delightful 5 ft doll
heads were strategically placed. I was hoping
the band would be a little
less wooden.
Unfortunately not. Don't get me wrong, these guys
had a really good sound.
Imagine mixing The La's with The Monkees, with
just a smidge of Supergrass
thrown in and you get the picture. A really good
beach/summer sound, the
kind you could imagine banging out of your beetle
on a summer run. But they
just didn't look as though they wanted to be up
there as main support. I
wanted energy, I wanted more jumping... I
wanted you to make the stinky 8yr old in front
of me to jiggle up his wind a
bit.
Good sound, dull band. The two wooden heads suddenly
took on a wave of
charm :/
Set over, and the chanting is starting for the
long awaited main event. For
a fair number of the crowd this was going to be
their first big live
experience (not least the trumping boy in front
of me), and everyone had
waited a while longer than they thought for this
night, so are Scouting For
Girls going to deliver?
From the moment they bounded onto the stage to
the dulcet tones of Elvis (I
thought
he was dead) you just know they are! The first
thing that strikes me was
how Roy Stride doesn't let the keyboard restrict
him at all. It would be
a ll to easy to have perched himself behind it
and just belted out song after
song, but he didn't.
He's a front man in every sense of the word, and
between tinkling the
ivories he made full use of the stage, bouncing
around and engaging the crowd!
He
started with an apology, and a promise this would
be the best gig of the
tour, then launched into 'I need a holiday'. At
this point I wondered why
they hadn't played the original date... Everyone
in the crowd was singing at
full volume, so technically, they didn't need
Roy!!
 But the crowd wouldn't have been able to emulate
his stage presence... I
don't really want to call him an all round entertainer,
because it doesn't
really give him the justice he deserves. He has
a way about him that makes
you think those 3 minute ditties are being sung
just for you, and he engaged
the crowd all evening (even the mums and dads
at the back, who were edging
away from the wall from the opening track)
Into 'Not about you'. Yes, every song may be instantly
recognisable, but
they were able to inject a real live experience
that made them all one offs
... Even just by the odd collapse into giggles
and restarts.
Next, a new one 'You Were Fitter In Your MySpace
Picture'. Kind of fitting
for a band who've been described as one of the
'Social Networking' era, to
dedicate a song to the realities of cyperspace
versus real life. The great
thing about SFG is the way they seem to be able
to candy coat real life with
a layer of 'never mind' positivity. They make
sad(ish)songs sound happy!
They're not going to change the world with their
lyrics, but they sure as
hell are going to make you smile!
After a couple more tracks from their album they
treat us to another new
one... 'Glastonbury'. Bugger, we don't know the
words!!... but it doesn't
matter because they do a quick opener to get us
up to speed! All I needed
was a room full of mud for the full festival experience
:)
Then Roy thanked the fans again for their support,
and dedicated 'Nobody
does it Better' to them. And you know, I actually
believe he really does
think that much of the whole room. It's heart
warming, even for this old
cynic.
 Then they were gone. What... Already? No goodbye??
Ahh, don't worry. It's just for the big build
up to 'James Bond'. Cue the
lights. In one way I was expecting them to burst
back on suited up, with
guns pointed, but that really would've been a
little cheesy. Thankfully
they didn't... I think the break gave them a renewed
sense of energy! They
tried to get the crowd to sing loud enough to
wake their driver Colin. I
k ind of think slumbering sloth's in Edgbaston
were rubbing their eyes by
now!!
They went off to 'Elvis Ain't Dead'. I say went
off... I think they took
all of two steps before the encore chant had started.
We haven't had the
Crème De La Crème of them yet, have
we?
And, not to disappoint the last song of the evening
was 'She's So Lovely'.
The song that's put SFG's name on the lips of
teenagers, middle aged
lovelies and even 8yr olds with serious gastric
issues.
Starting the track with 'Birmingham, are you ready
to rock' wouldn't
normally seem to fit for a band like SFG, but
then neither would the site of
Scott (the photographer), who's music tastes are
so PUNK it's running through
his veins, DANCING...and singing along!!
Scouting For Girls... They even make punks wanna
dance. Brilliant.
Review By Allie Brock
Photos By Scott Cole |
Scouting
For Girls
