The Music round off 2004 with the first of three big U.K. shows, before heading to Japan and Australia in the New Year.
The Music round off 2004 with the first of three big U.K. shows, before heading to Japan and Australia in the New Year.
Tickets for this gig only sold out a couple of days beforehand, but the two thousand punters who made the effort were rewarded with a stunning performance. The Music have a justifiable reputation as an awesome live band, and tonight is no exception.
Opening song 'Welcome To The North' suffers from a slightly muddy sound balance, although the problem is soon resolved by 'The Truth Is No Words' and the party atmosphere begins - turning the entire venue into a moshpit. The sheer energy of the performance bounces from the band to the crowd and back again, a supremely confident Robert Harvey engaging in his trademark ultra-loose fluid dancing. The only band to emerge recently even attempting to compete with The Music's fusion of rock and dance is Kasabian, who don't accomplish the task with nearly as much verve.
Drawing on material from both debut album 'The Music' and this year's LP 'Welcome To The North', the band play a set peppered with their big singles. The song which broke them back in 2002, 'The People', is particularly anthemic, and sees the first of the crowd surfers tumble over the barriers into the arms of the bouncers. The tribal atmosphere at The Forum is heightened by the strobes, which illuminate the mass of sweating, writhing bodies enraptured by the beat.
With the stage swathed in purple light, Harvey sings "How's it feel up there?" during 'Getaway', as if questioning the gods. The frontman's voice is so powerful he hardly needs a mike; while aptly named guitarist Adam Nutter stands motionless, in stark contrast to the sound he is creating.
The show ends, appropriately enough, with 'Disco', the song climaxing in a frenzy of light and noise. Though the crowd screams desperately for more, there is to be no encore tonight, and all that remains is for the sweat-soaked fans to file out, exhausted but happy, into the cold December night.
~Chris Watkeys
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