It's
a cold wet Sunday in Birmingham and its clear
winter is upon us, tonight though Motion City
Soundtrack are in town and are ready to warm the
not so long line of waiting people with their
own brand of keyboard rock. The room starts to
fill slowly and as people are still arriving…
Page 44 take to the stage and rock out their last
single Watch Me Fade. This local band has been
going a while now and has built up quite a bit
of support on their tours of the country, but
there doesn't seem to be too many of their hard-core
following here tonight. The crowd, however, take
to them well and are cheering and clapping along
throughout the set, I think this is because Page
44 take influence from the headliners with their
catchy songs and upbeat melodies. They play a
nice set including a few songs that will be on
their forthcoming album, which is currently being
made with pledge music. They sound good, with
the vocal harmonies coming together well, they
leave their stage looking pleased with themselves
and they can be happy in the knowledge that they’ve
entertained the audience.
Now
Now are up next, and this 3 piece from Minneapolis
change the mood of the room completely. They play
very mellow chilled out beats with lush vocals
and fast strums which give a very indie turn to
the night. I’m not quite sure how they’re
on the bill as they really are not like Motion
City Soundtrack, its either same record label
or the band loves them but unfortunately it doesn’t
work, especially when the crowd are here to jump
around and have fun. The room has filled whilst
they play and people are wondering whether they’re
in the right place. I am glad they were on the
bill though as I really enjoyed them, they play
a short set filled with plenty of emotion and
passion, with the odd bit off keys and mac samples
thrown in for good measure. If they’re in
town again, and you want to relax and take it
easy whilst watching a band, then Now Now are
one to watch.
Motion City Soundtrack have never been a band
to relax to whilst watching but tonight they give
the audience the best chance. They come out on
to the stage and get ready and start off strong
with Better Open The Door and Broken Heart but
it quickly slows down as the band seem a little
lacklustre. They play allot, off songs off their
new album Go which is quite disappointing as it
didn’t hit me the way the last few albums
did, but the crowd are allot younger than me and
are all taken by it, but as I’ve seen them
allot of times over the years I was disappointed
with the set list and lack of energy that they
had in their show.
They
do through in a few of their older songs, but
again they’re not the ones I know and love,
and considering this is a band that played all
4 off their previous albums in two nights a few
months back, you’d think they’d be
happy playing older, more loved songs. Other than
this they did sound great, the levels where good,
the guitar was clean the bass was bouncy and the
drums popped, it’s just a shame that the
keyboards couldn’t be heard, from a band
that relies heavily on their eclectic collection
of noises as well as pop punk rhythms it makes
no sense to have the keyboards dulled. The keyboarist
himself ‘Jesse Johnson’ was the one
with the most energy but wasn’t his normal
exuberant self, he wasn’t swinging jumping
around and bouncing about, he didn’t even
do his handstand on his keyboards.
Singer Justin Peirre did entertain the crowd by
telling them a story about the underpass and Chinese
round about, and how he gets scared because it
reminded him of Harry potter 5 with the Dementors.
He told everyone, so he won't be embarrassed anymore.
Which gets him allot off aww’s from the
girls. They continue their set, with songs such
as My Favourite Accident, This Is For Real and
True Romance followed up by ending on Everything
Is Alright. Which really improves the atmosphere
and puts a smile on my face, but it’s almost
too little too late, with an unplanned encore
off The Future Freaks Me Out and Lets Get Fucked
Up And Die, the set finishes on a high and the
crowd leave looking impressed.
Motion City Soundtrack where not their normal
selves tonight, with a lacklustre set list and
lack off usual energy, they still do it better
than most bands. Keeping the crowd happy and being
grateful for the support, they are one off the
best bands around but hopefully when they next
come back, they will be back to their old ways.
Page 44 3/5
Now Now 2.5/5
Motion City Soundtrack 3.5/5
Review By James Daly
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