THE MUSIC + KINGS OF LEON + ROCKET SCIENCE.
AT BRIDLINGTON SPA ROYAL HALL. 03/ 05/ 03.
No bands ever play in Bridlington. I was really shocked when The Music announced this gig. All 2500 tickets soon sold out. It was only 2 years ago when I saw these guys play in front of just 200 people at the tiny Adelphi in Hull. They�re toured all over the world since then, most recently with The Vines in America. This weekend though they were back in England for two special seaside shows. The other gig was in Blackpool the night before.
On arrival at the venue we spotted a certain Robert Harvey chatting to fans, friends and family. We got him to sign crappy the pieces of paper I had in my bag. I�ve met him twice before and he didn�t seem very talkative either time so I didn�t see much point in trying to start a conversation with him.
After going for some chips, we returned again to the venue, this time to find Robert steering a motor boat in a nearby boat lake thing, normally used by children! Quite a few people seemed to have spotted him. He was steering the boat one handed. He was using his other hand to hold his mobile phone. He seemed to be enjoying himself. He was going round the pool for ages. Once he had finally got out the boat we went and pestered him for photos. He posed willingly and said something like �Enjoy the gig�.
As there were 3 bands playing, the doors opened earlier than what they normally would have, at 6.45pm. There was a rush to the front. We got the best position, in the centre of the front row. Rocket Science were a bit of a let down. Yet another band that have been over hyped by the likes of NME. They were good yeah, but nothing special. Maybe I would have enjoyed their set more if I could have actually heard a word of what was been sung. The sound during their set was very poor. You could hear the instruments fine but not the vocals.
They got a mixed response from the crowd. It was a very mixed crowd actually. The kids next to me were only about 12. There were people there in their 40�s but most of the crowd seemed to be in their late teens or 20�s.
Kings Of Leon, from Nashville, came next. They have hair. Crazy, scary hair. During the first few songs I wasn�t sure if I liked them or not. The more they played, the more I liked them. They caused the first crowd movement of the night. Just as they and the crowd seemed to be getting warmed up, the band introduced their last song.
I don�t think anyone was really bothered about seeing either support band. They were only there to see The Music. At 9.30pm they wandered onstage and began with �The Dance�. Robert did his dance. It�s very unique.
The crowd pushed forward and I, like everyone else near the front started to get crushed. The crowd were going crazy. They went crazy throughout the 75 minute, 14 song set. Crowd surfer after crowd surfer came over my head. It was constant. I�d never ever seen so many crowd surfers during the space of one set in my life.
It was worth it though. After rare b-side �Jag Tune� came single �The Truth Is No Words�. One of my favourite tracks. �Human� was another highlight. The not so new �New Instrumental� was performed just ahead of classic �The People�.
The glitterball was brought out for �Turn Out The Light�. It was during that track when a guy behind me threatened to �rip my face off� if I didn�t get out the way. Where he was expecting me to move to I have no idea. There was no space to move anywhere. It was blatantly obvious that he wanted me out the way so he could steal my place on the front row. After waiting for several hours, I was not just going to give up my place just because he told me to. I was quite scared by him. While he was threatening me he was kind of grabbing me and pushing me. I ended up getting the security people to lift the guy out of the crowd. He gave them abuse too. What a wanker.
I didn�t let him spoil the remainder of the night though. �Getaway� was next. How ironic. After �Too High� came the slowest song of the night, another B-side, �Alone�. It began with just Rob and his guitar before the rest of the band joined in a bit later on during the track.
The song allowed me to grab my breath back before I decided to �Take The Long Road And Walk It�. I went to the �Disco�.
No new songs at were performed. The Music probably haven�t had the chance to write anything new. They�ve been touring constantly for months.
They concluded with �Walls Get Smaller�. Rob did things with the microphone stand. I wanted a photo but the security guy stood right in front of me as I was about to take one. He remained there throughout the rest of the track, helping out the last of the crowd surfing crowd surfers.
Not content with surfing, some also decided to have a swim in the boat lake thing were we saw Rob earlier in the day. After the gig, in the freezing cold, wind and rain, two guys stripped almost naked, jumped in and probably ended up drowning in there. Who knows?
BY MR MARTYN. MAY 2003. |