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First
up on tonight's bill are Nottingham's own Teenage Casket
Company, a band that I haven’t had the pleasure of seeing
before but whose reputation precedes them.
Tonight's set
is a staging block for the bands debut release 'Dial It Up'.
Opening up with 'One Thing You Don’t Need', which is also
the opening track off said album, the set itself suffers badly
from the overall sound that support bands seem to get at most
gigs. But the band seem to persevere and continue with 'Down
On Luck' and the upbeat 'Bad Girl'. The band have all the
enthusiasm and exuberance of youth and this alone is a
pleasure to see as most young bands seem to grab at the down
sides of life and wont let go no matter what.
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The musical
influences of the early 80's hair bands have had a great impact on the
band and are ever present in their music. Non-more so than on 'Dial It
Up' that is very Cherry St in its concept. The band impressed me a great
deal and with the right sound guy on the desk they could make their mark
and are a band that I would recommend to any fan of the good old days of
Glam.
Next up were The New Generation Superstars another band whose reputation
precedes them. But tonight's performance left me wondering if the were
just having a bad night. The bands overall persona was one of a band
trying too hard to impress, as the vocals were non descript and the hard
work the band were putting in to the show was wasted by not enjoying the
night. They all seemed stressed out and running on pure adrenaline and
the gig suffered for this. Whereas TCC before them were really enjoying
the night and it showed on stage.
New Generation Superstars seemed to want to be another Backyard Babies
or Buck Cherry but the vocalist is no Josh Todd even though he was going
for a similar look.
I hope this was a one off for the band as I've heard so much good press
about them and would like to see them at their best to give them some
positive press of my own.
Now for the main event, Vain billed as the band that you wanted to see
and for me that is just it. Being a fan of the band for many years and
not seeing them in their heyday I was really looking forward to
tonight's show and to have the original line up was a extra bonus.
Over the past few years there has been an steady upsurge in the number
of 80's bands reforming and touring the UK, some with mixed reactions
from the press and crowds alike. But any bad press that Vain get must be
the fact that it has taken them so long to get together and give it
another go.
Opening
up with 'Secrets' that still sounded great after all these
years and Davy Vain's vocals haven’t been ravaged by time
and are still as good as they always were. In a set that
included all the crowds favourite tracks 'Push Me Over',
'Breakdown', 'Whose Watching You', '1000 Degrees', and 'So
Free Now' off their new album, and before they left the stage
it was time for everybody's favourite 'Beat The Bullet' which
they dragged members of the crowd on stage with them (much to
the horror of the roadies) and some didn’t want to leave.
And to finish off a great set the band came back for an encore
and played a ball breaking version of AC/DC's 'Down Payment
Blues'.
The band may be
a little older and a little wiser but they can still rock good
style and I hope the rest of the gigs are of this calibre and
hopefully they will be back to these shores very soon.
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