 Tonight is my first time at the HMV institute
even though it’s been open for about a year
now, and I tend to go to allot of gigs! Unfortunately
I’ve not been to all that many this year,
it’s just been one of those years where
nothing seems to go the way you want it to, so
I was glad to be going to see one of those bands
that have been there for most of my adult life,
who I have seen a few times before and who’s
music always puts a smile on my face.
I arrive and the venue and find out the gig is
in the part of the building called the Library
which is in size like the academy 2 but is styled
rather differently, with a balcony and weird triangular
pillars that block your view from the bar, so
you have to get in with the crowd or be about
6ft to see the stage whilst having a drink. The
venue is nice though, the lighting is atmospheric
and the crowd are all closed in so it feels like
everyone is in it together, unlike other venues
where you spread out and feel bad if you bump
into someone.
 But anyway, that’s enough about then venue
let’s get onto the gig, the support band
are called My First Tooth and are a four piece
from Northampton. They consist of two men and
two woman and sound rather folky. They have a
nice consistent sound made up mainly of acoustic
guitar, loud bass, snare drum and violins. They’re
definitely Irish sounding and use many traditional
instruments throughout their set.
“Tonight’s our last night on the
tour and where already getting the post tour blues”
They then ask the crowd to join in but don’t
actually say how, I worked out that it was clapping
with the bass drum but the rest of the crowd didn’t.
The crowd seems rather nonchalant even though
they go into a song which is reminiscent of Mumford
and Sons. The next song is without bass and to
fill in the gap the bassist claps and does backing
vocals to a song that reminds me of the Magners
advert (Galway Girl), but she flaps around like
a fish out of water (literally what a fish out
of water looks like!)
 Overall they’re pretty good but this crowd
came here to continue the support for one of Indie
music’s best kept secrets, even though they
have had success they’re still not up there
with the Elbows they’re still much like
the Ben Folds of the music world.
As the tour name suggests Athlete tonight are
stripped back, the songs they’re playing
are different to the cd's and this is due to the
mellowness of the gig, all 4 members are here
but the style is more acoustic with keyboards
rather than full blown samples and electric guitar.
Athlete are not a heavy band but there is a subtle
difference in the sound between the cd and tonight
and this difference makes a change as the atmosphere
tonight is more of a sing along than a band playing
to a crowd. If the band had spread out around
the room instead of on stage then it would have
made it more intimate but that's just my crazy
ideas, there has to be a stage or it would be
a sound and lighting nightmare!
 The different, relaxed sound, shines through
with songs like Half Light and You’ve Got
The Style are stripped back and raw and instead
of the big breakdowns the sound is cut out and
heavy bass is lowered, so the atmosphere is not
spoiled.
The singer, Joel Pott jokes "This is us stripped
back, not stripped off as it would be weird! But
were going to play some songs a bit louder and
it may be different than what your used to!"
This makes the gig turn into something more like
a remix album, than a straight like for like playing
the songs as they normally sound and I guess that's
a good thing as it makes it more interesting for
the band to play the same songs, that they’re
been playing now for almost 10 years. They burst
into Westside and it sounds very different, as
if it was being played underwater with weird,
chugging bass and a repeating keyboard sample
that sounds like a submarine. The crunchy guitar
breaks through just enough to make the breakdown
come alive and sound just as fresh as it did all
those years ago.
 Joel say’s “This is Last night and
it’s rather relaxed, but we've been on the
whisky! So it will be a good end to the tour”
The band continue to play through classic tracks
including Beautiful and El Salvador and end the
night on the instantly haunting Wires. The crowd
love it and sing throughout the set, with glasses
held high a good time is definitely had by all!
Athlete are set to go back into the studio and
record some new songs, and I’d recommend
that people check them out, as they’re a
great band that all the family can chill out and
relax too.
My First Tooth – 3/5
Athlete 4/5
Review By James Daly |
