As I leave the London Astoria this June evening, there are several things that are puzzling me. The first is that I am once again reminded that this venue, a cornerstone of the London live music scene for several decades is facing inevitable closure to make way for who knows what kind of shiny new retail development or similar. With the demise of the Hammersmith Palais, venues like Infinity and the proposed redevelopment of Camden, it is a worry how much musical character will be left in London in a few years time.
The second puzzle of the evening concerns opening act The Harrisons. Quite how they never made it big when Sheffield was raided by A&R men post-Arctic Monkeys fever is beyond me. While the likes of Little Man Tate and Milburn were given widespread exposure for peddling watered down versions of their city-mates, the Harrisons’s seemed to miss out somewhat, despite what always seemed to me to be better songs. On the strength of this show, which they seem to grow into as it proceeds, they certainly deserve more. Rousing versions of ‘Blue Note’ and new single ‘Dear Constable’ are slotted alongside a host of other energetic tracks that get the crowd going. Their time may still be yet to come.
The main question I have about Lethal Bizzle’s position on the bill is how the Grime star has managed to retain such a close relationship with the diverse ends of the indie scene, warming up crowds for everyone from Jack Penate to Gallows. Still it obviously must work, and tonight’s is certainly an entertaining performance that does its job. At times, though, with little opportunity for reflection on the insightfulness/incitefulness of Bizzle’s lyrics, the pastiche MC stylings of the former More Fire Crew member threaten to become as farcical as the oversized plastic chain hanging round his neck. When the audience gets split in half to see who makes “the most noise” it’s a bit like being at a kids party and if you squint a bit, it could almost be PJ and Duncan on stage so clichéd are some of the on stage moves. It is however, all good fun and allows the first ten rows of the Astoria crowd to warm up their moshing muscles before our headline act takes the stage.
And so to the Enemy, who, to me, provide the most intriguing puzzle of the evening. Just where in the hell did they come from? In the space of a few short months and three decent enough singles, they have been catapulted to NME cover stars (hopefully for more than the phonetic similarities) and now sold out Astoria headliners. This velocity of this transition is exaggerated from where I sit, high up in the 2,000 capacity venue, and the vast Astoria stage seems to dwarf these three youngsters from Coventry when they stride on stage to a rapturous response. Having made their name thus far with singles ‘It’s Not OK’, ‘Away From Here’ and now ‘Had Enough’, all rock’n’roll songs recalling a ‘Definitely Maybe’ sound and leading to countless Oasis comparisons, it comes some surprise how heavy their rendition of first track ’40 Days and 40 nights’ is.
In fact Tom, Andy and Liam tear through the majority of their set. With few words spoken to the thrilled crowd, save to introduce one or two of the songs, the three-piece concentrate their energies on making as much noise as possible. They make an interesting contrast between each other, with Tom static at his mic, Liam set back at his raised kit and Andy making the most of the wide open spaces on the stage by taking his bass on a few tours of it before periodically returning to his mic to belt out some backing vocals. Showcasing songs from their forthcoming debut album, the Enemy play fast, hard, and loud and while the band’s commitment to the songs can’t be questioned, they do tend to run into each other somewhat, with few moments that standout as anything better than average. It is very difficult not to be won over, though, and the startlingly passionate crowd seem to enjoy every second of a set that flies by, including a stirring version of ‘Away From Here’ – a song made to be played live to an audience who will hang on every “whoah”.
It is only during the bayed-for encore that the Enemy fulfil my expectations with the more anthemic ‘It’s Not Ok’ being the moment (both live and on record) where they most live up to their Oasis comparisons. But in actual fact, they are a decent enough rock band in their own right and their songs have certainly won themselves a fair few fans already. On this evidence they are devoid of anyone of the charisma of a Gallagher, but the British public love to get behind a band who put their frustrations with life into rock’n’roll songs that they can sing along to. Hence Oasis. Hence The Enemy. I, however, will reserve judgement until that album…
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First published on rockfeedback.com. See it here.
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