This was my first time at the Wedgewood Rooms, a venue I'd heard great
things about, with comparisons to the mighty Southampton Joiners, among
others. And upon first impressions, happy days. A good layout and a generously
sized room with potential to have near-perfect sound. And it did. Woot.
Only one support tonight, The Envy Corps, from America. A five-piece with
a front-man fresh from the Magic Numbers, they opened with a track that
sounded like it was going to be one of Rufus Wainright's worst songs;
quite slow and depressing, with a very deep Rufus-y voice. Thankfully,
this was just a brief intro and things soon picked up. The vocals stayed
quite deep and were partially lost in the music, (the kind of thing you
wouldn't notice on a record though, it happens quite often live,) but
the music was good. Not particularly innovative, but it was chirpy and
certainly wasn't bad.
As they played, I recognised the guy stood on the left. Hmm. Where from?
And then it clicked. Upon arriving at the venue and looking for Milburn's
tour manager, he had been arguably the most obnoxious, arrogant, and generally
rude person I've ever met, just mumbling and walking off. For God's sake.
You're an American band hardly anyone knows, supporting a very popular
British band. You aren't headlining Wembley. So what's the point in being
a cock? Step off your high-horse. And I'm pleased to announce that he
was the one member of the band who looked totally out of place. Nodding
out of time and putting very little emotion into it. Yeah lads, he's the
one to replace. Rant over. Promise.
The Envy Corps played about six or seven songs, and amongst being haggled
for their hats, rolled out some inoffensive tunes and this and that. As
you do.
When Milburn came on stage, the crowd were well and truly ready. The room
had packed out a bit more and the chants for the four Sheffield lads rattled
off all the walls. Without saying a word, they started the vocal chant-like
intro to "Lo + Behold," the opening track off of their new album
"These Are The Facts," which is/was to be released a week after
this show in Portsmouth. Following this came the newest single "What
Will You Do (When The Money Goes)" which is the second track off
the new album. The two tracks merge effortlessly on the album, so why
not live? Why not indeed. A lot more people knew this track as opposed
to the first, due to the fact it's been released, it's up on the MySpace,
and it's been getting quite a lot of air-time. Saying that, all the new
material was received well, by a crowd who wouldn't have known it all.
Some of us, cough cough, had access to the yet-to-be-released album already,
but all the little kids certainly didn't.
After every song, the singer and bassist Joe would give a weak thumbs
up and say "ta very much like," or something equally northern.
The four-piece bobbed gently from side to side as their exciting and infectiously
catchy tunes sailed out over a crowd who were loving every note of it.
And don't just think the boys were here to play the new album, oh no,
they played a fantastic balance of both albums, and weren't far off playing
every single track off of each. "Well Well Well", "Showroom,"
and "Storm In A Teacup" were played as well as a particularly
well-received "Send In The Boys," with the crowd jumping around
and calling out a vocal interpretation of the lead riff. And off of the
new album (which is fantastic by the way!) there was "Summertime,"
"Count To Ten," and "Wolves At Bay," which has a fantasticly
catchy riff. One of my personal favourites off of the album, "Lucy
Lovemenot," a tale about a slag, for lack of a better word, was also
included in the set. Before the encore, "What You Could've Won"
went down well, along with "Cheshire Cat Smile" and a couple
others, and then the band were gone. It was almost instantaneous that
the calls for more started up; and of course, they didn't let us down.
Only Joe and Louis, the two brothers in the band came out, and Louis picked
up an acoustic guitar. It was quite obvious what was about to be played,
and as the opening notes to "Roll Out The Barrel" began, the
whole room joined forces to sing along and have a great time. The final
song of the night required the entire band, the closing track from the
new album, "Genius And The Tramp." I can understand why they'd
play this last, but given the album hasn't come out yet, I'm thinking
maybe ending with a banging single off of the old album might have been
better. But still, it's a good song, and a great end to a fantastic gig.
Good, great and fantastic in the same sentence.- That says a lot.
Review By Thom
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