Saturday, January 13, 2007

The Wombats / The Lights / Curzon Circle Birmingham Barfly Sunday 14th January 2007


Damn Sunday gigs...damn them to hades. Ahhh, that's better...you have to vent your spleen everyone once in a while n'est pas?

Openers and local boys Curzon Circle had an 'enthusiastic' following which bodes well for their attack on the mainstream. You could liken them to the Arctic Monkeys and wouldn't be too far off the mark (Arctic Circle anyone...no...just me then...right ho) but they've also got a Libertinesesque feel and certainly seem to engender a similar level of fan worship (jeez, what's this, have I swallowed a dictionary?). Given this, second on the bill, The Lights, had a tough act to follow. Their My Space page refers to a three year honing of their sound, and they're certainly a competent live band. A couple of tracks were particularly strong. Certainly one for fans of melodic rock a la Snow Patrol and Captain, but a bit edgier than both. Their guitarist had St Vitus Dance too...which was nice.

Headliners The Wombats are one of my top tips for 2007 and they were most excellent. The lead singer comes across as a little camp - which is always a winner in my books - and, as a band, they're a much sweeter proposition than many of the lairy guitar driven combos currently fiddling with our pop kids (nasty, string 'em up, bring back national service...put bromide in their tea...that'll fix 'em etc etc). Hmm, this isn't really a review now is it? Still, my site, my bullshit. Anyway, they're damn fine and, although none of the tracks struck me in the balls as much as Leaving for New York, I'm sure that many of them will be 'growers' in the coming weeks. As I say, ones to watch.

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