Dot to Dot Festival 2010, Nottingham

You know the score: lots of bands, lots of venues, one city, one wristband, chaos ensues and so on. Let me tell you this though: Nottingham was one of the first to initiate the now very popular phenomenon of the one day city festival. Just think about that when you’re queueing for you Gaymers in Camden next year next to some fucking trilby wearing div with a Libertines fetish so hard he’s forgotten it’s not 2004. Yeah…

On to the infinitely more important and interesting matter of music then. One of the first band’s of the day is South London’s Fiction in the Bodega Social. The room is packed but that’s not to say it’s gonna be easy. At first, the sharp, contorting pop of Fiction raised a few middle aged eyebrows accompanied by little exasperated mutterings of  “Fucking Lundon…innit?”. However, before long the crowd really began to warm to the band. With the Eno meets Byrne vocals, the stomping and simplistic drum patterns and the jagged guitar parts, Fiction somehow make you twitch nervously yet manage to smear a silly grin across your face. Excellent way to start the day and if you were to have a flutter on which of this year’s Dot to Dot bands will do the old ‘Played small venue at the festival. Got massive by the time of next years festival. Used by the organisers to promote/show off’ (ala Klaxons, The XX, Wild Beasts), you could do worse than choosing Fiction.

Next the hunt for good music and not-actually-that-cheap-booze-considering-it’s-a-student-union-in-Nottingham leads us to see Small Black upstairs at Trent Uni. The place is awash with pretty happy people and Small Black accompany the good vibes with aplomb. The New Yorkers fill a space somehow between Beach House and Washed Out (both of whom are relative heavy weights on the day’s bill) and they might have been expected to provide us with some fashionable shoe-gaze pop whilst averting their trendy stares blankly towards the floor. Do they oblige in this? Do they bollocks. Good natured Dad dancing, uplifting beats and something far more substantial than of-the-moment-dream-pop is what Small Black give the good folk of Nottingham, resulting in one of the surprise successes of the day.

After a ridiculous wait for a burger at Spanky Van Dykes causes me to fucking miss Washed Out (the burger is alright, it’s a bit dry and a few more chips wouldn’t hurt anyone) , Rock City and Wild Beasts beckon. Last time they played Dot to Dot, Wild Beasts had just released their debut album and entered Rescue Rooms barely noticed. Back in 2008 they slightly embarrassed themselves by getting all falsetto in the faces of about five people. Not to mention embarrassing myself since I dragged a number of people there with talk of it “being a big one”. Great things come to those who wait though, and tonight Wild Beasts are the greatest band of the festival. Utterly enchanting and mesmerising at times as much as they are lighthearted and fun at others, this is a band riding triumphantly to the peak of their game and showing little signs of stopping.

After some serious patio raving, a missed Beach House set and palms beaten almost raw from pounding out the rythms of ‘Idioteque’ on the tables of Rescue Rooms, it’s time for Los Campesinos! in the main Trent Uni room. There’s quite a turn out here for the band but, unfortunately, it’s not something they can capitalise on. This can’t quite be described as a lacklustre performance, but more one implying exhaustion and possible burnout. They try to rouse themselves and the crowd, bless em, but aside from the perpetually fun ‘You! Me! Dancing!’, there seems little sustenance to the frameworks of their songs.

Down in the Rock City Basement now are the newest and brightest of Nottingham’s sons, Dog is Dead. This youthful five piece have recieved much fostering by the organisers of Dot to Dot, but the large and enthusiastic crowd is testament that their 9.30pm slot is far from unjustified. Their spikey but uplifting melodies are perfect for a festival and you can practically see a thousand teen hearts swelling and breaking around the room. Dog is Dead soar together and contort individually, displaying a musical understanding of one another which is genuinely amazing. There’s no question about it: This is a great band going places.

From here it gets a little hazy. JakWob in Rock City did a hell of a lot of basic, thudding dubstep and Zane Lowe after him probably provided a good mix of things. Not really sure about that one. Casiokidsended the festivities in apt fashion with their set in the early hours at Stealth providing a greatly unfocused, wobbly knees up.

Once again, Dot to Dot is a success and the great folk of Nottingham show little sign of tiring of the bank holiday staple. Long may it continue.

Xiu Xiu/The Luminaire/26.02.10

Although The Luminaire is probably too small to meet the demands for tonight’s show, which sold out months in advance, its aesthetics reflect the ethos of both the band and tonight’s promoter, Upset The Rhythm, they’re both here for your entertainment but they take what they do very seriously. This is epitomized in the sign saying ‘Please be quiet. If you talk during the bands we will tell you to shut up.’ Anyone who thinks this is a little harsh should probably not bother with Xiu Xiu. Both on record and on stage this band are an intense experience where every tiny sound that makes up their songs is worthy of your attention. A perfect example of this tonight is during one song when the backing beat is so loud that not only can you feel it in your chest but it delicately shakes the various symbols stood around Jamie Stewart and Angela Seo which, deliberate or not, just sounds incredible.

While up to now I might be making this pair sound too serious for their own good and its worth noting that this wondrously avant guard project does have its ‘hits’ and several of the songs tonight do get some dancing out of the crowd and even though the debut of the title track from their new album Dear God, I Hate Myself it sounded like it had the potential to be once it becomes better known.

Xiu Xiu have the respect of peers and critics alike and while they can sell out a room this size while barely lifting a finger they will never be one of those bands that really ‘breaks through’ and its probably them who least of all want that. The venues will get slightly bigger but it will always be an enlightened minority who find it fascinating to watch this seemingly shy and unassuming pair smash their fist into keyboards while palying music through a DS.

You can and should buy their new record Dear God, I Hate Myself now. Also, here is their website which is kept up to date with their various musings. Below is a song that will be up for a week for your sampling pleasure.

Xiu Xiu-Boy Soprano

Also, to the girl behind me who had clearly taken about twenty seven pills and smelt worse than my housemate who doesn’t wash it was nice that you insisted on apologising to me every single time you barged into me but if it is absolutely necessary to be that fucked could you just go to Fabric or some other soulless pit next time?

Wild Beasts- Koko, Camden- 4/03/2010

Girls. Boys. Drinking. Love. Fighting. Crying over that lost love again. Shocking me like an electric eel. Turning me on with your electric feel. I’m not saying the current crop of bands aren’t up to much, but these are maybe some of the common themes which they like to sing about that ties them loosely together. It would be hard to put Wild Beasts, the best-and probably only- thing of note to come out of the Lake District, in that category though. With the charm of an eccentric intellectual uncle who checked his sanity out years ago, Wild Beasts casually sing of such things as extra-sensory perception, flaccid cocks and Freudian slips.

It’s not just the preposterous pomp of the lyrical themes that elevate Wild Beasts a considerable height above the peers of course. It’s also in an endless number of other things; from the ridiculous voice of Hayden Thorpe- sometimes genuinely touching but sometimes even more genuinely disturbing; from the different instruments which know each other so intimately; and from the perfect balance of accessibility and complete oddball quirks.

Tonight, in the old theatre style setting of Camden’s Koko, the sense of genuine excitement could not be more intense as the band walk onto the stage. ‘The Funpowder Plot’ is the perfect opener; twisting and revealing itself gently as some sort of mission statement that, with all the booty calls and majestic guitars, tonight’s show is going to be as deep as it is flamboyant.

After comfortably taking the reigns as lead singer for a good couple of songs, it’s not until the dark ‘Two Dancers’ that sees Thorpe make way for Tom Fleming to take his place before the microphone. Striding in a quietly assured and infinitely manlier manner, Fleming begins to sing his low, captivating baritone. ‘Two Dancers’, with its direct references to ‘His dancing cock/ down by his knees’, could almost be kind of funny if it wasn’t so totally fucking disarming. Here we have a man singing in dark detail about gang rape to a room full of mesmerised people. A fucking Noah and The Whale gig this aint.

It’s not all morbidly fascinating stuff though, and far from it. ‘Brave Bulging Buoyant Clairvoyants’, for example, sees the band take their big old brains and use them for the power of ludicrous fun, and ‘All The King’s Men’- incidentally having some the best backing vocals ever committed to tape- swings back and forth in giddy enjoyment with its overlapping of pristine, shimmering guitars and stylish vocal style.

As the band finish their set having put in a good shift, to use their northern work ethic sensibilities, it seems as if they’ve only been on for about a quarter of an hour. Time flies though Coming back on for an encore, they play the two typically grandiose closers of both their albums; ‘Empty Nest’ and ‘Cheerio Chaps Cheerio Goodbye’. The latter couldn’t be more perfect. Almost like a nice summary of the gig that preceded it, the song flirts for a while with Thorpe’s countertenor voice and the cheeky guitar strums toying with the crowd before breaking out into an all singing, all dancing, gloriously uplifting climax. And then it’s all sadly over, confirming, if there was any need for conformation, that Wild Beasts are a truly Special Band. Perhaps, the most special in the country.

Owen Pallett, Lightspeed Champion/ Union Chapel/ 25.01.10

Tonight is a big night for Domino. As well as These New Puritans giving their new album it’s first live outing while backed by an orchestra somewhere in Shepherd’s Bush, two of their solo artists who are releasing sophomore and debut albums for the label this year are here at Union Chapel. Lightspeed Champion and Owen Pallett are two who, while being worlds apart, somehow still manage to stay in the same postcode in terms of style. Unlike Owen, Devonte Hynes is still playing behind his Lightspeed Champion moniker, and considering what a huge departure this style is from his previous project Test Icicles where he assumed the character of Dev Metal suggests that there are many other musical faces to the performer. That’s not to say that he doesn’t throw himself into the character he’s playing tonight as his aesthetics compliment how his music sounds and is performed. From his performance, which was announced just hours before the show, he’d have you believe that his status as an indie hipster is just a creation of some far off press department as his charm comes across as a pleasing accidental bi-product of his performance. In between songs he is polite, slightly shy and completely without any air of pretension. His performances are heartfelt and sincere with the keyboard sounding particularly powerful throughout the chapel.

When Dev finishes he is met with a hug from Owen which seems to also be a very public and very enthusiastic embrace of the headliner’s new relationship with Domino and himself as a performer no longer playing through Final Fantasy but stamping his own name firmly on his solo work. As usual he sets up his own equipment on stage, walks off and returns to a rapturous applause from the sold out venue. Perhaps less unusual is the fact he’s joined by another musician who adds everything from guitar to the occasional whistle giving the songs a full and more complete sound. Especially those from the new record ‘Heartland’ (which Owen assures us is not a concept album) which is much more ambitious in going beyond his signature looped violin, which is by no means less impressive when used this evening showing his innate skill and precision timing. The two musicians have a good humored rapport with each other and Pallett seems very at home speaking to the audience, even managing to come back from a mistake turning it into a funny little anecdote, the mark of a good performer. By the end of the night it seem very fitting that the last venue he did a solo show as Final Fantasy is where he plays his first as Owen Pallett, the former filled with mysterious light shows while tonight seems more open and simple like the man himself. Final Fantasy is dead, long live Owen Pallett.

Lightspeed Champion-Myspace

Lightspeed Champion-No Surprise (live on BBC 6 Music)

Owen Pallett-Myspace

Owen Pallett-No Cars Go (Arcade Fire Cover)

Final Fantasy-Learn To Keep Your Mouth Shut, Owen Pallet

Atlas Sound/Cargo/15.11.09

It used to be well known that the success of a show involving Bradford Cox depended entirely on the musician’s fragile mood. However from the word go  tonight seems to almost pinpoint the moment he fully transitions from tortured artist to wholesome entertainer. The show opens with ‘Quick Canal’ his beautifully ambient duet with Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier and the pair swap laughing glances as they are joined on stage with an eight year old ‘interpretive dancer with a future’ . Once his comrades leave the stage Bradford is left to his own devices, in this case a guitar, a drum kit and a few pedals and begins what is a wonderfully stripped down intimate affair. A fact the singer himself acknowledges saying if the sold out audience was halved it would be almost like a show with friends in his living room. It seems from this point the planning is left up to the audience as he just talks to the audience, warning us of impending diarrhea due to lack of sleep, and ends up taking requests. These include one for Pavement which he attempts in homage to ATP who are putting on tonight’s gig. There are points during the show that he apologises for the lack of a live band but that would have made the line between tonight and seeing his better known project Deerhunter, which almost the entire audience profess to having done, too blurry. These basic performances allow the folkier side of Bradford’s music to shine through and that is what separates this project from his other work.

Atlas Sound w/ Laetitia Sadier-Quick Canal

Cymbals Eat Guitars @ The Lexington, London. 12/11/09

After much eager fawning from the likes of Pitchfork and Drowned in Sound, tonight’s showcase of Cymbals Eat Guitars sees the sold-out Lexington bristling with sticky anticipation from the relatively diverse crowd. Well, it’s not really diverse as such, but to witness a gig by a hyped new band in London where the punters are made up equally of “real” people- you know, with actual jobs and stuff- as it is by horrible, scrawny little fuckers who are there with a part of their brain reserved for cynicism just in case said band actually turn out to be ridiculed months later….where am I…? Yes…the Lexington has a variety of different sorts tonight and it’s a bit refreshing. But not massively.

The Staten Island residents, Cymbals Eat Guitars, do not exactly strike an instant image of originality and aplomb with their part preppy/ part geekish attire and their slightly awkward American accents, but once they get into their stride they start to look a little more confident. With debut album (‘Why There Are Mountains’) opener, ‘…And The Hazy Sea’  the band really begin to wrap themselves around their own sonic possibilities. The song bursts into action- all wailing vocals and rolling cannons of guitars- before the layers peel away to reveal a pretty little trickling tune which, in turn, paves the way for some nice “lalalala” vocals and, eventually, another section of noisy post-rock. It’s these kind of meanderings and tangents that are really indicative of the band’s sound and the gig tonight. With this song in particular, it’s not so much a nailing of the old tried and tested dynamic of “loud/quiet/loud/quiet”, but more of  a “loud/quiet/softy/poppy/epic/tickly/loud again/pause for thought/even louder/quiet/loud/WhereAmI?” style reworking.

One thing that has the potentially paradoxical effect of gaining Cymbals Eat Guitars this initial wave of positive hype and, simultaneously, is likely to cause  at least a smattering of dissent, is the multi-multiple angles of influence their music is drawn upon. This band can almost been seen as a neat A to Z catalogue of good alternative American rock bands present and recent. From the exuberance of Flaming Lips to the proud and grandiose climaxes of Arcade Fire via the wailing of Kevin Shields’ guitars, it’s all here.

However, for a band who so clearly and unashamedly display their influences like a boy scout proudly showing off his newly acquired cow milking badge (something of a scout holy grail I reckon), Cymbals Eat Guitars sound surprisingly fresh and vital. When they are flitting between doomy shoe-gaze and happy-go-lucky strolls down piano led pop lane, it somehow doesn’t grate or become a little too much. Such consistent chopping and changing of styles and influences are pulled off slickly because of the basic fact that this is a really talented band.

One of the set’s highlights- ‘Share’- for example, shows the band’s uncanny ability to fuse supposedly incompatible musical styles. After grinding slowly through the sludge of feedback and droning effects, the song breaks out on the other side like the sun finally revealing itself after weeks of fog. On the album, trumpets signify the start of the lazily glorious finale, but tonight singer/guitarist Joseph Ferocious suitably substitutes them for his slick guitar lines.

The band at times stop the momentum they create with awkward snippets of stage banter but, particularly as the gig gets older, they begin to grow in confidence and presence. They’re never going to own the charisma of Joe Strummer, but there is something slightly endearing about the way these shy, weedy Americans consistently throw themselves into each of their compositions.

Cymbals Eat Guitars are not quite there in terms of being a finished product yet, but that surely bodes will for their future. It’s rare for such a culture magpie of a band, who carefully pick through decades of music and don their shiny robe of influences, to sound quite so urgent and worth listening to. Since they’re already pushing very much in the right direction, with a little work and smoothing of those rough edges, Cymbals Eat Guitars look to be a majorly exciting prospect for the future.

http://www.myspace.com/cymbalseatguitars

P.s ‘Why There Are Mountains’ can be spotified right up.

Cymbals Eat Guitars – Why There Are Mountains

]]> http://www.itsnotforthecock.co.uk/2009/11/19/its-not-for-the-cock-its-for-a-perverse-image-of-cannibalistic-instruments/feed/ 0 http://www.itsnotforthecock.co.uk/2009/08/18/its-not-for-the-cock-its-for-m-late-3/ http://www.itsnotforthecock.co.uk/2009/08/18/its-not-for-the-cock-its-for-m-late-3/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 16:13:03 +0000 Lauren http://itsnotforthecock.dlpwd.co.uk/?p=1154

Maps, M83/London Koko/7.07.09

I was a late comer to the M83, beyond even the realms of fashionably late. In fact, I was only beginning to discover the brilliance of songs like ‘Moonchild’, due to it’s chance appearance on a mix cd gift, when the general music geek population of the internet was questioning the brilliance of their most recent offering ‘Saturdays=Youth’. A record inspired by the soundtracks of 80s teen dramas which featured highly in many top album lists at 2008s tail end. It is due to that fact and 6 months of wrong time, wrong place with regards to his scattered UK touring this year that tonight is my first witnessing of the M83 live experience. For a lesser known reason, it is also my first time in Koko as a venue and it might as well be my last as there are very few acts that go with its classic theatre meets disco chic decor as well as tonight’s.

 

Before the highly anticipated union of me, Koko and M83 can take place there is the matter of the evenings support act and lablemates, Maps, to be dealt with. I understand that Mr. Maps (aka James Chapman) is often joined by four other musicians when playing live but this evening he is joined by just a second pair of hands manning the keyboards and some rather laughable red fairy lights. Although the songs from 2007′s Mercury nominated album ‘We Can Create’ sound OK they are performed with the enthusiasm of a pair of disgruntled teenagers doing it as part of some youth scheme they’ve been stuck on for stealing one too many curly wurlies from their local shop. There is also the addition of new material that will presumably feature on new album ‘Turning The Mind’ which is currently scheduled for a September release. All I have to say about this is imagine Kevin and Perry going large with a shoegaze twist; comedy gold, musical vomit. 

 

Despite earlier disappointments anticipation is still riding pretty high and, despite what in my opinion was pretty poor promotion, Koko is now almost full. We’ve positioned ourselves on the second balcony a prime spot for the view, the sound and a good lean when your back starts to go. The latter definitely coming in handy tonight with the generous set we are treated too by Anthony Gonzalez and co. Starting with what one of my companions described as a twenty minute key-board cock tease performed by Gonzalez in complete darkness before we hear any actual songs. The first track we get with full band in tow is ‘Graveyard Girl’ which is one of the tracks from the new album where Gonzalez took his firmest steps down the path of pop at this makes is a perfect opener. Like the rest of the set it is performed like a battle between him and the female performer opposite him, which I can only assume is Morgan KIbby who largely contributed to the production and arrangement of Saturdays=Youth. 

 

The set drew largely from the most recent album and 2005′s triumph Before The Dawn Heals Us with both ‘Don’t Save Us From The Flames’ and ‘Teen Angst’ being impressive parts of the show. Although, saying that, it’s difficult to distinguish any songs as particular highlights as much of the improvisation during and between songs meant the performance as a whole was a fresh experience for even the most obsessed M83 fans, and from the view we had of little pockets of the crowd dancing with what looked like euphoric ecstasy you can be assured fans of that intensity exist. The encore especially saw a renewed burst of dancing and enthusiasm in the crowd which ended in persistent, but unanswered, chants for a second encore. Always a mark of a great show. 

Kap Bambino Album Launch, Cargo, 16.06.09

Kap Bambino are an electronic French duo who’ve been releasing and touring independently since 2002 up until recently signing with Because records, sharing a rosta with the likes of Klaxons, Late Of The Pier and Justice. Its with this collaboration that the pair have released new album Blacklist which is seeing them finally making the waves they are capable of. Tonight’s UK album launch a Cargo is only proof of this.

The venue’s main room is nearly at capacity and there’s a decent group down the front getting their dance on and already singing along to some of the tracks.

Frontwoman Caroline Martial’s raw and wreckless energy is infectious and its difficult to resist the urge to throw your body any which way in the crowd to the music. The pair are what one could imagine if Crystal Castle’s went Europop. It’s catchier, yet more unpredictable and painfully good looking. It’s a extremely well put together formula and Orion Bouvier’s electronic beats mixed with almost metal hooks just adds to the bands appeal and intrigue.

On the live side of things the Caroline is the indisputable star of the show. Bouncing of the sides of the stage and into the audience like an over hyped ball of electro fury she’s a passionate and attention grabbing performer.

Myspace

Kap Bambino-Zero Life

Kap Bambino-Dead Lasers (War Orchestra Remix)

The Mae Shi/ Abe Vigoda/ Tubelord @ Barden’s Boudoir 12/5/2009

Although from the outside Barden’s Boudoir looks like a crack den that even crack heads find too disgusting, inside this is a cosy little venue and perfect for such a stellar line up.

First on, and playing to a respectably sized crowd, are Kingston’s Tubelord. The trio shift seamlessly throughout the set from jerky, heavy guitar parts to soaring crescendos via soft, sweeping break downs laced with delicate vocal parts. They are interesting and evocative, proving that propping up the bill is not something they should be doing for much longer.

Next on are LA dwelling Mae Shi mates, Abe Vigoda. Taking “lo-fi” to a new extreme, they rocket about the stage, clearly having what must almost be the time of their lives. Around the room, though, members of the audience can be seen taking the occasional cheeky look at their watches and getting a quick pint before the main band. What should have been a barn storming set to challenge the headliners was, although by no means awful, something of a limp and stale effort.

Finally taking to the basement, strip club-esque venue are The Mae Shi. Launching instantly into their jerky, unique blend of rock, punk and pop, the section of the crowd down at the front simultaneously begin to rocket off one another in a smiley, sweaty celebratory mosh.

The band play through their 2008 album “HLLLYH” but it is the more accessible moments that get the biggest cheers of the night. “Lamb and Lion”, for example, sees the band on the lip of the stage shouting out in joy as a sea of arms is raised into the air and an ecstatic chorus meets every word.

The Mae Shi, live, are a strange yet mouth watering prospect. They take elements of hardcore punk and often lace it with pretty bleak and thought provoking imagery. However, as they leap into the crowd, swap microphones, collapse into a pile and eagerly bounce about in the faces of the front row, it is all done with the overwhelming air of celebration and fun.

The pinnacle of this comes when the band spread a huge parachute over the audience- something that is familiar to anyone who has seen the Mae Shi before. During this near euphoric moment of sweaty confusion, band members suddenly appear in the thick of the crowd and punters jump up and down giddily under the massive piece of material.

After the poorest pretence of going off stage before an encore ever (the whole “this is the end of the set” becomes slightly unconvincing when the band just huddle together on stage by the bass amp), the Mae Shi return and begin “sshhh”ing together before breaking out into the rip roaring “7XX7”. Fists punch the air, bodies slam against other bodies and, gradually, the stage fills up with sweaty fans eager to sing with, hug and fall about with the members of the Mae Shi.

It’s an appropriately messy climax to a brilliant gig which feels like an aggressive punch to the ribs, yet one which makes you feel so much better about life for it.

The Mae Shi- Heartbeeps

The Maccabees @ Camden Electric Ballroom, 05/05/2009

After the, perhaps slightly unexpected, brilliance of free download “No Kind Words” back in February and a handful of subsequent live dates dotted here and there, The Maccabees have finally released there second album, “Wall of Arms”, and return properly to the live setting a day later in their own glorious right.

Starting the set with the aforementioned “No Kind Words”, the band stand almost stock still as singer Orlando Weeks mumbles his dark lyrics over the building, brooding musical canvas. As the song hits it peak, with Weeks and guitarist Felix White singing “If you’ve got no kind words to say/ You should say nothing more at all”, the band are silhouetted in front of bright, blinding stage lights as the guitars crash in wave after urgent wave in the first genuinely mind blowing moment of the set.

Tonight, The Maccabees play a selection from both of their albums, alternating between the long term fan favourite alt. pop songs (“First Love”, “Precious Time”) and the grand, ambitious newer material (“Young Lions”, “Kiss and Resolve”). Despite the album being released one day previously, the crowd is instantly enthusiastic and passionate about the songs from “Wall of Arms”. “Can You Give It” inspires a mass, euphoric pogo and sing along and the way the crowd enthusiastically and immediately acquaints themselves with these new songs is happily reminiscent of the time before the band even released their debut. This passion- shown equally towards the fans from the band- from their ever expanding audience is just one of the many things that makes this band great.

With their second collection of songs, The Maccabees have also improved what was already one of their greatest qualities: the fact that they are so tightly woven together musically. Each member seems to have gotten even better and, more importantly, knows when to play and when not to.

“First Love”, understandably, nearly causes the roof to blow off. As Orlando Weeks sings the intricate and delicate love ditty, a smile flickers across his face- probably as you can barely hear his voice over the mass, heartfelt sing-along which sees a few faces nearly filled with wistful tears. It gets pretty emotional.

As the band play their final song of the night, it’s easy to tell that both the crowd and the band will be reluctant to leave. The band’s latest single, the epic, breath taking “Love You Better”, starts to an instant backing of clapping and singing. The guitars sway poignantly from side to side, pausing for breath before swooping back with full energy, as the drums rocket and roll triumphantly. As the final glory of the song washes over the crowd, a brass trio join at the side of the stage and belt out the optimistic, celebratory climax, highlighting a song which is surely the best thing The Maccabees have written.

Then it’s over, leaving the crowd sweating and dazed at what just happened. With “Wall of Arms”, The Maccabees have shown they are clearly here to stay and that, with songs like “Love You Better”, they are comfortable and capable of handling big venues and crowds with the success of a great band going on to even greater things.

“Wall of Arms” is out now.

www.myspace.com/themaccabees

No Kind Words