Maximo Park, Boy Kill Boy, Komankino @ The Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
May 2005
The final gig on the south coast has arrived far too quickly, not long now and i’ll be returning to Canterbury and its wide array of crap music. I don’t know what it is but rock musicians seem to be allergic to kent, extremely annoying! Well as we entered i was greeted with a sigh saying 2 of the 3 artists have pulled out due to illness, just great. So no Nine Black Alps and The Checks were no more. Just as well that nme had some backups in the wings, and decent ones at that.
Komankino kicked us off, with a burst of youthful punk teen energy from a baby faced singer who didn’t seem old enough to legally drink the Stella he was necking. High energy and harsh rhythms were a core to their music and it works.
The second replacements Boy Kill Boy were really good, same sort of sensibilities as the opening act only did it with a more grown up attitude and style. The lead singer’s grin made him instantly likable British Dave Grohl. Songs were good rocky and had a sound whch could make them very popular with the industry.
Now Maximo Park, the real reason why i got these tickets. When i first clapped eyes on the lead singer i thought he’d walked straight off the set of Grange Hill in his school jumper. A gimmick which was just not geeky enough to made you turn and walk out (The book of poetry he brandished pushed this as well). Thank God their music was better that their dress sense. They plays basically every track from their debut album ‘A Certain Trigger’ from the poppy ‘Kiss you better’ to rock gems such as ‘Signal and Sign’and the utterly superb ‘The Coast Is Always Changing’. You can tell the singer was one of those who sat down in a corner at his school disco’s from his distinct lack of cool. However this and his awful dancing skills, thrown in with some camp jumps make him quite likable.
I really enjoyed all the bands, i hope BoyKillBoy make it big coz the singer is cool, Maximo Park already have made an impact probably because the singer is uncool, go figure :s
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