 Well
the new academy is now open, same name, same city,
new location, it looks quite nice to be honest,
i haven't seen the new main room, as tonight's
gig is in the academy 2, the room is longer but
thinner than the old Academy 2, and the stage
is higher but again small!
First band on were a local band, hailing from
sunny sunny Walsall, were the late 80s, there
a indie rock band. As soon as they stated playing,
the speakers had way too much bass coming out
of them, didnt sound too good to be fair, there
was some noticeable synth as part of there sound,
they were kind of like early killers stuff, the
bass player was the livelyest of the bunch, one
of the stand out tracks that i actually got the
name of was 'i don't think she knows'. i will
say though that they sounded great when i was
in the mens room.
Next up were another local indie band called
the sharks, from the off they got some heads nodding,
not entirely sure why though as they weren't that
original or exciting to listen to, the lead guitar
player was the most lively covering every inch
of his part of the stage and stepping on to one
of the speaker stacks. One of my main gripes was
that i couldnt hear or understand the vocals,
i think the mix was a bit hit and miss tonight,
i could only hear the lead guitar and drums, the
rhythm and bass were completely lost on me, one
of the tracks started quite well, couldn't tell
you the name of it as they didn't bother introducing
it, and i couldn't guess the chorus as i couldn't
hear the vocals!, what ever it was called it was
the best track they played!
 Now im not sure what took so long but there was
an awful long time in between sets, about 15-20
minutes after the set up was done, ridiculas,
nothing worse than waiting.
The headlining band were Mando Diao, a rock band
from Sweden, and yet again i couldn't hear the
vocals, a pleasent surprise that the vocal duties
were split between two singers, id have like to
have been able to hear the subtle differences
between the two, but i couldn't hear therm. 4
songs in they played,Herr Horst, which was a decent
track, set opener, sheepdog, was another decent
track, the 5th track was ,high heels, although
it could have been, the band, which ever one it
was, it was slow and eerie, a good track though,
a personal favorite of the night was if i dont
live today, it was one with just the singers on
stage no drums, bass , just them two and there
guitars, a decent acoustic track. At some point
during the set i noticed another band member playing
the keyboards/synth behind one of the amps, shy
perhaps? there was plenty of room on stage, another
addition you don't see often is backing singers,
but what did it matter couldn't hear them. Mando
Diao finished the set with Dance with somebody
and before rock n roll, which left the crowd rather
happy, but me rather board!
Mando Diao 3/5
The Sharks 3/5
The Late 80's 3/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
