This should have been a typical
review, you know the sort of thing, provide intelligent and knowledgeable
critique of a band, offer comparative reference for the uninitiated, and
highlight the best moments etc; however I came away from this gig with a sense
of anger and disappointment – nothing to do with either of the bands, both of
whom were excellent.
First up were Giveamanakick, a two piece from Limerick
who had been invited by The Undertones as support for the entire tour. They are
promoting their current album “Is It OK To Be Loud, Jesus?” recently released
on Irish label Out On A Limb Records. What we have is a vocalist/gtr player
Keith, accompanied by Steve on drums and vocals. The guitar is effect pedal
laden and the drumming is frantic and heavy; at times the sound had hints of
Husker Du, Fugazi that American hardcore sound of the early 90’s, pretty good;
hampered by the really low level of volume in the hall. The other difficulty
for them was the void they were playing to, there were perhaps 40 people
watching, with a similar number in the separate bar.
Which brings me back to my
paragraph and a subject I have touched on previously – Why are audiences in Liverpool
so small? We gave this some thought and used The Undertones last visit to the
area as a reference point. They played at Birkenhead’s
Pacific Road Art Centre in April 2005 to a sold out crowd of 650, the promoter
stated he could have easily sold another 200+ tickets but was prevented by fire
regulations, prior to this I saw them fill ManchesterAcademy (750) – tonight they walked
on to face perhaps 350; why? Are punters in Liverpool so
cool they don’t attend gigs, is there not an audience for gigs – clearly not
the case, Pacific Road is
only 4 miles away. I personally believe it is down to the venue and promoter.
The Academy 2 is frankly a hole, marginally better than Academy 3, both are
dirty and unwelcoming; the promoter does not seem to do anything other than
post a date on the website, very few posters in the city and apparently those
on display had the wrong date upon them!! If true it beggars belief... Do they
not realise they are trying to sell tickets, and to do that people need to know
about bands appearing. Its not just The Academy, the Barfly is similar, lack of
promotion and subsequent lack of audience. Other venues seem to fare better, CarlingAcademy gets good crowds, they
operate a mailing list for a start, the Zanzi has its own faithful appreciative
crowd etc
No doubt the promoter would
defend his policies citing the recent sell out date for Texas and the already
sold out date for Motorhead, but these bands have large record label support,
with national newspaper advertising and poster campaigns, when he books a
smaller band he should realise ha has to put in the effort, ultimately the
bands don’t care that much, the Undertones got paid whether they play to 10 or
1000.
Enough ranting, The Undertones took to the stage and
opened with ‘Family Entertainment’ before launching into over an hours worth of
old and new material. All the favourites were there ‘Perfect Cousin’, ‘Jimmy
Jimmy’ Teenage Kicks’ ‘Julie Ocean’ two brand new tracks and 'Thrill Me'
and 'Touch' from the last album ‘Get What You Need’ before finishing with
‘Get Over You’ The audience that was there was enthusiastic and the band
responded to it returning for a six song encore including an old track dropped
from the 'Sin Of Pride' album before finally going out on ‘Mars Bar’
Another fine performance for a
legendary band, who the following night will no doubt be walking out to a sell
out crowd at Manchester the following night. Perhaps The
Undertones will return to Pacific Road next time, we can but hope..
