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Is time finally starting to run out for emo? In the wake of US punk suddenly rediscovering its political agenda, singing sad songs about girls with the distortion pedal turned up to 2 is suddenly sounding a bit...well, 2002 to be honest.
Tonight's openers The Lucida Console put on a brave enough face in the evidence of such statistics. Sure, it's nothing you won't have seen before in a million and one local emo bands but they infuse their undoubtedly Jimmy Eat World indebted set with enough energy to keep their followers happy.
Likely to go further though are After The Silence. Initially sounding like a band who badly wish they'd grown up in a high rise flat in Seattle circa 1989, they quickly show themselves to be a damn sight more inventive than just another bunch of Kurt wannabes adding punky guitars and snarling atmospherics providing the audience with glimpses of everyone from 3 Colours Red to Killing Joke. If the world sits up and listens (and hopefully it will), this could be the start of something big.
I wanted to like Thisgirl, really I did. Having heard their album last month, it showed promise of rising away from their original "yetanotherbleedinemoband" bluster of yore. Unfortunately, tonight's set rapidly undoes all that good work - although the group (particularly their handstand-lovin' lead singer) show a commendable amount of energy onstage, it's a classic case of the sound not translating well into the live arena. Songs like "Hallelujah" which sparkled on the album simply come out as a blundering tuneless mess behind stroppy walls of guitar and promptly drag Thisgirl right back down to the emo morass we hoped they'd escaped from.
Lots of work needed then. But look out for After The Silence if they're playing near you.
Review and pic by Andy James
