|
28/9/00 - dotmusic
click here
for original article
SPACE +
SHED 7 + THE BLUETONES + THE ANIMALHOUSE - MUSIC 2000, SKYSCAPE AT THE
MILLENNIUM DOME, LONDON
Gig Played: Wed 27 Sep 2000
 Somehow
tonight just doesn't feel like the 'rock concert' it was claimed to be, with any
hope of atmosphere lost in the Skyscape's strange and soulless futuristic
surroundings.
The corrugated combination of
amphitheatre, circus and cinema tonight plays host to a sparse gathering of
children, freeloaders and some shifty looking tout types. A general gathering of
ne'er-do-wells if ever there was one. So apt for tonight's line-up of
under-achievers.
First up are The Animalhouse, the
latest combo from former Ride shoegazers Mark Gardiner and Loz Colbert.
Gardiner may be a balding shadow
of his pretty, floppy-fringed self but the band's sound is a vast improvement on
previous fey outings. Tonight they dip into their new album 'Ready To Receive',
forging darkly atmospheric, psychedelic rock fleshed out with Moog and fluid,
rumbling basslines.
The adorable, but peripheral
indie-poppers, The Bluetones are next, showing off their mediocre mastery in a
pocket-sized set of 'old favourites' and a token slice from their 'poppier'
third album, 'Science & Nature'.
Their beautiful melodies and
'la-la' choruses have all the usual zeal and infectious harmonies synonymous
with Morriss and Co but still they lack that something wonderful and once the
gigantic velveteen balladry of 'If' has faded to silence it's like they were
never here.
The nothingness of catchy pop
continues with no one's favourite band, Shed 7, playing, as ever, a greatest
hits set. Frontman Rick Witter lumbers and leaps through the pick 'n' mix hits,
his 'bluurrghhhs' during 'Chasing Rainbows' and general heckling (yes, the band
heckling the audience) suggest an inebriated incoherence that actually improves
on the band's general performance.
His substance-addled state shoots
a previously unseen degree of verve and aggression into the normally workmanlike
combo. They are still, after all, Shed 7, but exciting. And as the farewell
comes round there's enough energy and enthusiasm from the dwarfish lead singer
for all of us.
Lucky really, as the audience are offered a choice of finales, 'Getting Better'
or 'Going For Gold' but the indecisiveness of the small crowd narks Rick into
choosing for us; 'Going For Gold' rounds it off and the Sheds make way for the
main attraction. Roll up, roll up! Here come Space.
The cheeky Scousers take their
place and now starts the Rockfest. Well, no, of course it doesn't. Now starts
the comic-strip pop, with scamps populating both the songs and the stage.
Tonight we witness a showcasing
of new stuff, which is jaw-droppingly abysmal. Like Pulp at this year's
Reading/Leeds Festival, they have touched up their usual social commentary with
a dance edge, although this is like experimental music therapy of the homemade
variety backed up with synthed strings.
It does, however, make the sound
of 'Female Of The Species' a welcome relief. More surprising though is when the
frontman Tommy Scott leaves the stage and the guitarist croons out an
alternative country ballad that swells and stuns.
It's calm, serious, melancholic
and reminiscent of Mercury Rev, though less high-pitched. Genius. Unfortunately,
Tommy returns to his usual place and Space finish the set as they started it,
lightheartedly.
And so the evening ends, with
barely one moment of rock the whole evening and only one moment of joy. But hey
what do you expect with such indie lightweights as these?
Zoe MacGechan
|
