Back at the Joiners, hoorah! And for once, it's actually sold out. This
could get messy.
The first group to the stage, were a five-piece by the name of The Red
Light Company, a whole mix of characters it would seem. With a keyboardist
and bassist, both of which were dressed in shirts, trousers and proper
shoes; and then a vocalist and guitarist in skinny jeans and tight tshirts,
one even going to the extreme of fluorescent pink hair. And the drummer,
oh I don't recall.
Wow, what a sound. With all four standing members having a microphone,
the number of people singing varied from one, right up to all four. And
the mix of sounds left a brilliant final outcome. It was something like
a cross between The Killers, The Arcade Fire, and Bright Eyes, and musically,
it was all that with a bit of Embrace added. The songs were good to listen
to, not particularly catchy, but just generally great. Their stage presence
was a little disappointing, not really moving from their spot. But forget
aesthetics, these guys are bloody good.
The second band on were friends of Reuben's, Sucioperro, and they seemed
to have a following too, which is always nice to see.
With a music sound reasonably similar to the Reuben boys, the only thing
that was vastly different was the vocal line, which in my opinion, was
quite weak. The Scottish four-piece knew how to rock out though, and seemed
to be enjoying themselves, often calling for audience participation in
chanting lyrics during breakdowns, and all that jazz. It was the bassist
who was doing most of the work on that front, who was alone on one side
of the stage.
"You should come and rock out over here."
"Well I would, but I have to do this singing lark, you know."
During the instrumental parts, the vocalist would bend his knees and lean
back, jerking his body as he played the guitar. For one song, the band
swapped their drummer for no other than Jamie, the Reuben front-man. The
crowd loved it, understandably.
Once Sucioperro had left, it was Reuben's turn. By now, the room was packed
and I'd never seen the Joiners so busy. I was at the front having a few
hundred people behind me forcing me into the stage, the edge of which
was at a convenient bladder-height; nice.
The band came on with novelty helmets on, that have been previously modelled
in photoshoots and on some of their merchandise as well. Sadly the helmets
themselves, were not available for purchase. Jon was fully dressed, Guy
in a pair of shorts, and Jamie, in shorts and a hospital gown.
"Why am I wearing a hospital gown?"
"It's a wise choice," added Jon.
"Yes it is. I was in hospital with food poisoning, and this was
my souvenir."
Now, I can't remember the exact order of the songs, I was too busy having
the time of my life, but we know what they did and didn't play, and that's
good enough for me.
"Tonight My Wife Is Your Wife," "Scared Of The Police,"
and "Moving To Blackwater" were played, and even b-sides like
"Wooden Boy" and "Miffy In Auschwitz." Sadly, there
was no speak of "Freddy Krueger," "Return Of The Jedi"
or "Parties Break Hearts," but you can't expect them to play
everything, can you. There were a selection of new songs scattered across
the set too, and from what I heard, the new album which is due out in
June, sounds promising.
"Are you ready to rock out with a new one?"
Guy shook his head. He was gasping for breath and collapsed over his
drumkit, and sweating heavier than everyone in the crowd put together.
"I think that was a no," said Jon, his older brother.
"Well, I guess it's time for a new drummer then!"
Sucioperro's drummer came to the stage, and Guy went off for a break.
"This is a hard song he's been learning for weeks."
Some feedback started growing, and everyone knew exactly what was coming
next, "Blamethrower," which was expertly handled by the guest
drummer, and equally well performed by the songs creators, Reuben.
"Has anyone got a hankerchief or a tissue or something, I'm getting
a cold."
A plethora of hankerchiefs flew onto the stage.
"Whose is this? I'm going to blow my nose on it, is that okay? I
can wash it and post it back to you if you like, I can do that..."
More songs followed, "Keep It To Yourself," and "Horrorshow."
"What do you want to hear next guys?" asked Jamie.
Everyone called out for their favourite songs.
"Hang on hang on, there's a choice."
Still screams from the crowd.
"Hang on, seriously, listen to me. Do you want to hear No One Wins
The War?"
The room erupts.
"Or Lets Stop Hanging Out?"
The room erupts again. Jamie calls out both songs once more just to check
which got the bigger response.
"Guess we'll just have to play both then."
And so they played "Let's Stop Hanging Out," which happens to
be my favourite. Upon finishing, Guy was collapsed once more and looking
worse for wear, as (and not for the first time,) Jamie and Jon were calling
for their bottles of water to be passed out around the crowd. That's something
I thought I'd never see at the Joiners, people of the crowd getting absolutely
mullered and desperate for water. But that's the popularity of Reuben,
isn't it.
"Right, I'll give him a clue," Jamie said. "We've got two
more songs, one of them is No
One Wins The War, but before that, it's another new one."
And so that was that. A brand new song and then "No One Wins The
War," and they were gone. A truly awesome performance though, and
a massive crowd for such a small and promising venue. They know how to
rock, oh yes indeed.
Review By Thom
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