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Sometimes you see a support act, and wonder why they are the support. Sometimes that’s because they are so bad that you wonder how someone could believe they are worthy of taking to a stage, but tonight it was because Vincent Vincent and the Villains are so damn good it is not funny. Given how the evening panned out, there is not question as to who should have been the headline act.
The Villains, fronted by the inimitable Vincent Vincent, play a fantastic hybrid of old school rock n roll, and the dirtiest garage punk this side of a The Libertines, and it goes down a storm. In a town notorious for giving support acts a hard time, this lot got the crowd moving, and their forty minute set was all to brief. Ode to the disbeliever, ‘Johnny Two Bands’, and the storming ‘I’m Alive’ are just two highlights of this very impressive set.
Some bands can cut it live, some can’t. London four piece Good Shoes, unfortunately, seem to fall squarely into the latter category. Undeniably great on record, where they sound like a fuzzed up Maximo Park, live they come across as bland, formulaic, and with no real sense of purpose or direction.
As a bored crowd looked on, the band limped through what can only be described as the same song, fifteen times. The lack of deviation from the standard formula was quite staggering to behold, and by the middle of the set, there was a noticeable stream of people deciding that the bars of Newcastle were more appealing. The thought of joining them crossed my mind more than once.
The lack of interaction with the crowd did not help matters. Preferring to joke amongst themselves rather than engage their audience, Good Shoes often seemed disinterested, and when trying to make a name for yourselves, alienating the paying public isn’t the best way to go about it.
Recent single ‘Never Meant To Hurt You’ was the standout track in the lacklustre set, and the lurching rhythm and staggering vocals provided the one glimmer of hope for the evening. However, the presence of this one solitary gem made the rest of the set all the more depressing, as now we were aware of what this band could do when they put their mind to it.
I can only hope that tonight was an off night for this apparently up and coming young band, as their reputation most definitely precedes them, and they are apparently destined to go all the way. On tonight’s performance, nothing seems further from the truth.
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article by: Tommy Jackson
photos by: Tommy Jackson
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| published: 23/03/2007 00:09 |
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