Jesse Malin / Headway

Nottingham’s Headway may or may not have chosen to call themselves the same thing as the Brain Injury Association, but they certainly do not induce any sort of injury on you. The sweet swoosh of guitars over a steady but thumping rhythm and bass team remind me in places of Radiohead, and the Doves with a haunting and strong set of vocals.



Jesse Malin has a band with him on this tour, fully enforcing the sound of the new album ‘Glitter In The Gutter’, with it’s stadium anthems and huge choruses. He appears happy to be here, swinging around on the tiny stage. The only change you have to see him is if you are standing right at the front of the crowd; the stage is so low and what with the various pillars holding up the ceiling it is a crap place to see someone as popular as this.



Not that we don’t all get to see him. I don’t mean watching it on the screens (which make him look like a spirit, with the stage light washing out the low resolution of the TV). Halfway through the set he clambers into the crowd, and finding a place in the middle, gets everyone to sit down (“This place is clean, right?!”). This gives a sort of sitting around the piano or acoustic set on TOTP vibe, but really connects with the gig-goers at the back who have had enough of the backs of people’s heads.

Whilst in the crowd Malin’s voice is well suited to covering ‘Helpless’ by Neil Young, as it has the same tone and sound of despair in it. A lot different from the harsh singing he produced whilst in D-Generation.


In between song banter focuses quite a bit on the interviews Malin has had straight before the show; how all the questions are similar (album concept, where it was recorded etc). He has a very charming and engaging style; you become hooked when listening to him talk and perform. The song-writing skills are up there on the genius level; all tunes that you can relate to, either musically or lyrically.

I am very happy when a cover of The Hold Steady’s ‘You Can Make Them Like You’ is played by a solo Malin. He says that he found their album whilst browsing in a record store, and that ordering songs and DVDs by the internet and mail stops these finds happening. Even more surprising is the cover of Beautiful South’s ‘Everybody’s Talkin’’, a delightfully cheery song which is best suited to the atmosphere tonight.

Headway help Jesse and co to perform the last track, a cover of the Flaming Lips’ ‘Yoshimi Battles Pink Robots’. They appear a little bit more drunk; with a few bum notes resonating out, but this is the first time they have tried this together so it’s not that bad considering.


Many of the tracks tonight are from the new album, with only one from previous offering ‘The Heat’ (Hotel Columbia’), and the rest from first album ‘The Fine Art Of Self Destruction’. Stand out tracks for me tonight are ‘Don't Let Them Take You Down (Beautiful Day)’ and ‘Black Haired Girl’.

Riding On The Subway
Prisoners Of Paradise
Black Haired Girl
Downliner
Broken Radio
Little Star
Don’t Let Them Take You Down
Brooklyn
Almost Grown
Hotel Columbia
Solitaire...Cigarettes And Violets
Everybody’s Talkin’
Wendy

You Can Make Them Like You
Lucinda
In The Modern World
Aftermath
Queen Of The Underworld
Going out West
Yoshimi Battles Pink Robots