THE HOLD STEADY (Shepherd's Bush Empire, 02/07/07)
BRIGHT EYES(Shepherd's Bush Empire, 03/07/07)
MENOMENA (Old Blue Last, 09/07/07)




The Hold Steady put on an absolutely blinding show last Monday, one of the best I’ve seen this year. Certainly not the trendy young bucks you’ll find on the cover on NME, these bar-rockers look like a bunch of middle-aged dads living out their dreams of being rock stars. But as cringeworthy as that sounds, the Hold Steady’s mix of power chords, 80’s keyboards, wonderfully erudite lyrics and an accordian playing Frenchman with a twirly moustache and a tendency to juggle wine-bottles really is fantastic. But what I really loved about them is how much they obviously enjoyed performing, so different from the po-faced poseuring you get from so many bands I see. If you get a chance, check out their latest album ‘Boys And Girls In America’- it’s superb.

The next day I checked out Bright Eyes. Backed by an 11-piece band bedecked in white, the notoriously awkward Conor Oberst put on a top-notch performance in a great, albeit rather short set. The lush 60’s folk-pop of Cassadaga was recreated wonderfully by his backing band, and although older material wasn’t in abundance, those songs he did play also gained from the added orchestration.The backing projections were worthy of note too; some guy was creating them live using arts and crafts stuff, to fantastic effect. Nonetheless, despite all the flair it seemed a bit mechanical at times; apart from the utterly sublime “I Wouldn’t Riot For Less” (those strings were perfect) it generally lacked the soulfulness that defines the best singer-songwriters. But hey, lots of attractive young emos to ogle, and when it comes down to it, isn’t that all that matters?

Then on Monday I saw Menomena again. Think Sunset Rubdown meets the Earlies, add a bit of Bloc Party and 65dos topped with a hint of Tripping Daisy and you’re almost there. Fiona bought me tickets for them a couple of weeks ago, and I enjoyed the show even though the sound was a bit thin for my liking. This time, they were fucking ace. Part of my increased enjoyment was due to the fact I’d listened to their new album religiously since the Camden Barfly show, but most of it was due to the better acoustics of the Old Blue Last. Oh, and the fact they were so loud the vibrations almost caused the speakers to fall over! Yeah, they occasionally relied on backing tracks, but unlike the disappointing Blonde Redhead it added to their sound, rather than reducing the set to a jumped-up karaoke session. And the fact is, baritone sax is the mostly mainly instrument ever. For reals.