No More Twist

Before I forget just how much fun it was, a quick note about the Subways gig. I first heard them on TV and thought their music was catchy… they have a sort of youthful energy. I bought the album, played it a bit and it grew on me. Then the chance came to get some tickets for a gig in Birmingham, at £10 each I bought them without a second thought. For want of babysitting we nearly missed the gig, but J’s mum stepped in, and we were sorted.

First – the support. I wasn’t expecting much for £10 but there were two bands and they were both entertaining for different reasons. First up the Milk Teeth. The guitar player and lead singer could hold a tune, and it was slightly strange to hear such a twangy guitar sound… but not unpleasant. I want to track down some recordings.

I really liked at least one of the songs. The bass player and drummer were cool and maybe a little laid back. If I had to criticise – they were more musicians than showmen, modestly thanking the crowd half way through the applause, then launching into the next song with precision as if they were working to a tight deadline.

Next up, the Dodgems. They had a good rapport with the crowd and played well. They were an ideal warm up act. They added a hard-working keyboard player to the lead-bass-drums line up.

The keyboard player was mostly seen hunched over the keyboard. The bass player was never still. The lead singer never stopped chatting, teasing the audience
(you’re just here to see the Subways?). The crowd loved them (with the possible exception of the few who moshed around randomly in the middle, through one of the quieter songs).

Before the headline act a couple of photographers came out and everyone got excited. She was pretty! I heard some girl say behind me.

They played mainly familiar songs with a couple of new ones thown in. I don’t know if there was a technical problem or two because a couple of songs were barely recognisable. Maybe Billy lost his pace a bit after jumping into the crowd from a speaker, when a bouncer mistook him for a punter and tried to stop him from clambering back onto the stage! Mostly the songs sounded great though, and they were delivered with such energy that no-one minded.

A couple of times Billy said how great it was to be back in the UK – having just toured the USA, I wondered if they got a poor reception there. It certainly wasn’t the case in Birmingham.

I could hardly believe the way Charlotte jumped around on the stage. It was like watching a video where you suspect careful editing has placed together several energetic moves for good effect. But this was live! And it went on track after track.

She moved so much I had a hard time getting a good photo from my vantage point. The lighting didn’t help either, although it looked impressive, my camera struggled to make sense of the scene. By luck I got a strobe-lit shot of Josh drumming.

Overall it was a great gig, really good atmosphere and I’m looking forward to the next album…