 Getting to the Birmingham Academy early yet again,
for only two bands are playing tonight, so getting
there before 7 was a complete waste of time as
the first and only support act was Sonic Boom
Six, and they weren't due to kick off till about
730, so i duly found me a spot to plonk me self
till they came on.
Getting into the pit i found that i was the only
photographer shooting Sonic Boom Six, so plenty
of space for me, the opened with (Welcome To)
The City Of Thieves, slow to open and was expecting
it to take off, but it never seemed to materialize
like it did when i shot them in December 2008,
while it sounded clean it also seemed to sound
pretty flat or just lack the vital energy that
was there when i saw them last year. The band
seemed to be having a good time while playing
songs such as Back 2 Skool, Bang Bang Bang Bang,
Strange Transformations and set closer Piggy in
the middle, they were also well received by the
crowd, but i think it lacked something, perhaps
they couldn't fill such a large stage even with
there energetic performance of there punk-ska
music.
 The Headliners Levellers make there way on to
the stage to loud cheers, i found myself once
again on my own in the photo pit, a rarity im
such a big venue, They opened with Life Less ordinary,
which was followed by Beanfields then Burn America,
Two songs that were played earlier than i expected
was Beautiful Day and One Way, brilliantly catchy
tunes! But the one song that really blew my away
was Three Friends, it was opened with a Didgeridoo
before going into the song proper, absolutely
fantastic, a really atmospheric song that's better
than its album counterpart in every way. Other
songs they played were, 15 years, the road, Boatmen,
Men at Tol, Barrel of a Gun, Come on, Dirty Davey
and Cholera Well, this bought them up to the encore.
Once back on stage to another loud cheer and to
get the crowd dancing again like they've been
doing all through the set, in the main crowd and
in the out skirts too, they open there encore
with The Game, which is then followed by Rivaflow
then set Closer, Liberty. the bass player must
have been knackered as he was bouncing throughout
the whole gig along with most of the crowd. A
good gig.
Sonic Boom Six 3/5
The Levellers 5/5
Review By Robert Lawrence |
