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It's the encore. Fresh from a triumphant rendition of "Slight Return", Bluetones frontman Mark Morriss takes a moment out to address the crowd. "You may have heard," he says, "of a lot of bands splitting up recently. I can assure you that we'll be around for a while yet". Cue the cheers from the audience.
Good words. In a week where Suede have announced that they're going their separate ways and the NME is gloating over the imminent demise of Shed Seven, you'd be forgiven for thinking the future looks somewhat bleak for the not entirely dissimilar Bluetones despite two Top 40 hits in the last six months. After all, if you believe everything you read in the music press, we're supposed to be long since over going mad about bands like this and the Libertines are the future (or summat) - theoretically, tonight should be a case of a stale band going through the motions.
Happy to say, it's anything but. Storming in with an energetic rush through "Liquid Lips" and "Can't Be Trusted" before chucking in "Marblehead Johnson" (their second biggest hit) bravely early on in the set, the crowd here at the Rocket goes mad for the Bluetones right from the off. Trust me, I've seen 'em live three times so far this year and tonight was definitely their strongest showing yet. Throwing in a mix of the old ("Parting Gesture", "Four Day Weekend", "Cut Some Rug") and the new ("Fastboy", "You're No Fun Anymore", "Turn It Up"), they don't play a bad tune tonight - even the new 'uns which sounded a bit lacklustre on the album appear to have had the awkwardness brushed off 'em to reveal yet more glowing gems of tunes nestling within.
So really then, it's last laugh on the NME - sure, the Bluetones may not make up fatuous stories about being ex-smackheads, they may not be moronic enough to burgle people's flats and then whinge when the law inevitably catches them for it and they may not make records that sound like Television with their heads in a bucket of jelly. But, as any of the 500 people here tonight and at countless other similar venues around the country which they've played to in the last year will testify, does that really matter when these guys write tunes that losers like the Strokes would sell their grannies for? 'Course it doesn't. 1-0 to the undesirables and the fightback starts here. We hope.
Reviewed by Andy James
