Gig Review

The Levellers
Sonic Boom Six
Birmingham, Academy
28th November 2009
    
          
The Levellers                Sonic Boom Six                
              
Photo Of The Levellers © Copyright Robert LawrenceGetting 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.

Photo Of The Levellers © Copyright Robert LawrenceThe 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

 The Levellers


Mark Chadwick
Jeremy Cunningham
Charlie Heather
Simon Friend
Jonathan Sevink
Matt Savage

 Sonic Boom Six


Laila K (Raps)
Ben C (Guitars, Vocals)
Barney Boom (Bass, Vocals)
Neil 'Madfish' McMinn (Drums)
Nick 'The Blade' Horne (Guitar, Trombone)

 Band Related Links
The Levellers Myspace
Sonic Boom Six Myspace
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?