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I dunno about you lot but if there's one thing that really annoys me at gigs it's when bands, especially new unestablished bands, tell everyone to "come down the front" or "give us some applause", as if they feel that on top of forking out a fiver of our wages us punters somehow owe them our undying appreciation for watching them peddle their musical wares for half an hour. Bollocks to that says I - in my mind, it's always the sign of bands who somehow know that the songs they're playing aren't actually as great as they want us to think they are and feel the need to compensate.
So it's a bit of an ominous sign when Babyfood's lead singer, a mere two songs into their set, announces that if more people don't come towards the stage he's gonna storm off and later snarls "We don't want polite applause, fuck off." It's frustrating more than anything because Babyfood, while not the saviours of Leeds music that some would have you believe they are, aren't a bad band by any means. After a shaky start tonight where the vocals, keyboards and drums appear to be woefully out of sync with each other, they finally start getting into their stride and grind out an entertaining half hour or so of Fall-style art-punk. They just need to remember one thing - nobody likes an obnoxious twat. Just ask Crispian Mills.
At least you know that you're unlikely to get such problems with Robochrist who's more than content to let his music do the talking. Tonight's set sees Leeds' numero uno pioneer of electro-punk thrash with '80s cult TV samples as good as ever with the set evolving nicely. I've said it a million times before I know but if you've not seen him yet, you're missing out.
It'd be easy to write headliners Selfish Cunt off as yet another of the increasingly dismal set of post-Libertines Camden indie but it only takes about five minutes tonight to realise that these guys are streets ahead of listless drones like Razorlight and Babyshambles. Lead singer Martin stalks the stage like some freakish hybrid of Brian Molko, Marc Almond and Freddie Mercury while his guitarist and (occasionally) drummer crank out some downright fearsome musical backing. The likes of "Yes" and "Britain Is Shit", while sounding a bit messy on record, sound truly ferocious in the live arena and there's no danger of half-hearted applause here because (Babyfood take note) they're simply that scary that you can't (or maybe daren't) divert your attention away.
It all ends when Martin storms off stage after some wag down the front shouts "Play something we know!" and doesn't return leading to most of the crowd simply chuckling wryly before heading back to the bar - again, this is possibly a band who could do with some lessons in "how to handle crowd indifference". But in the time they got tonight, Selfish Cunt definitely proved that they're one of the more exciting new bands doing the rounds at the moment. Go check 'em out.
Review by Andy James
