British Sea Power (Leeds Joseph's Well, 18th May 2003)

Support: Mower

Tonight is essentially a lesson in how to do psychedelia both rightly and wrongly. For an example of the latter, take Graham Coxon-endorsed noiseniks Mower. Sounding like a group of people who were chucked out of Mogwai for being too tuneless, they chunder through a number of very grisly half-tunes with clanky industrial noises thrown in here there and every-bastard-where. It works on a few occasions but a lot of the time it doesn't and sounds unbelievably messy. Back to the drawing board lads.

Headliners British Sea Power, on the other hand, have at least succeeded in tempering their undeniable dark side with some good riffs and tunes. If you can get past the fact that they appear to have redone the stage as Kew Horticultural Gardens then there's plenty to enjoy here as songs like "Spirit Of St Louis" and epic closer "The Lonely" mix dark Mary Chain style menace with spiky Wire style riffs to compose something undeniably addictive. While Mower may be enjoying lying in the gutter, there's no question that BSP are looking at, and indeed aiming for, the stars.

Reviewed by Andy James

Back to 2003 Live Reviews

Back to Live Reviews