The Basement / The Sleepy Jackson / Kings Of Leon - London Highbury Garage - 11/2/03
4/5
By: Toby L
Kings Of Leon Set-List: 'RML', 'Wasted Time', 'Joe's Head', 'Wicker Chair', 'Molly's', 'Genius', 'Holy Roller', 'Happy Alone'.
So much for fans - tonight is industry-hell. The kind of place where there are more record-label execs and peering journos than there are people that will actually buy these records. It's a jungle, alright. Amazing then, that three of the globe's hottest, touted new talent can still shine their craft amidst a near-impossibly impressible bunch of liggers and swiggers.
First up to brave the eager hundreds - some of which were in bad spirits due to a guest-list fiasco upon arrival to the venue - are Kings Of Leon, three Tennessee brothers and a cousin that have lit up the airwaves of late via an excruciatingly exciting slab of fiery trucker-rock in the shape of 'Molly's Chambers', taken from their debut 'Holy Roller Novocaine EP'.
One of their first UK shows to date, singer and guitarist Caleb Followill leads his family through an eight-song barrage of pummelling hooks and drawling vocals, an altogether dizzying, dirtied aural equivalent of sex in a rusty trailer. Yet, in spite of the killer bowl-haircuts and porn-star 'taches, there's an inhibition to their groove which prevents the foursome from truly feeling at ease; they all too commonly avoid eye-contact with the audience, or humbly rumble when they should rock. Though with material that ranges from the sleaze-driven ('Happy Alone') to the build-up, Small Faces sense of melody ('Wicker Chair'), it's only a matter of time before this clutch of dusty gems finally gleams with the initial sparkle it demonstrates in such an unassuming performance as tonight's.
The Sleepy Jackson Set-List: 'Apples', 'Cavaties', 'Miniskirt', 'This Day' (crossed out on original set list), 'Nails', 'Rain' (crossed out...), 'Dancers', 'Vampire', 'Beck' (crossed out...), 'Glass'.
The Sleepy Jackson seem far more assured at this game; Aussie grafters, they've done the gigging rounds back down under and are intent on savouring this, spreading their ripples and frivolous sparks of frightful energy on to anyone that'll gawp on in sheer delight/excited terror.
Arriving on-stage and seemingly struck by an invisible explosion of life-endangering rubble, the Antipodean quartet wrestle with their instruments to stay alive, falling towards the restless photographers at the front and only pulling back in time to reach a microphone and deliver some vocals. Intense, this stuff.
Behind the walls of teeming sound, however, there lays a distinct pop sensibility, perhaps best showcased on their exceptionally-received, eponymous-titled mini-album, with cuts such as the flamboyant punch of 'Good Dancers' and playful 'Miniskirt' ranking alongside the brooding newer material, inclusive of an enchanting 'Vampire'... It's sonic, hard-edged space-rock - but not as we know it. A band in a field of their own, The Sleepy Jackson are anything but a tiring proposition. Follow them now.
The Basement Set-List: 'The Colour Song', 'Graveyard Dream', 'Medicine Day', 'All Down The Line', 'Mirror Man', 'The Only Mr. Lonely', 'New Year's Clue', 'Stuck...', 'In The Rain'.
Well, would you want to follow this lot? Someone has to - and it's The Basement's chore, not necessarily aided by the tremble-inducing fact that this is the Irish act's first ever London show.
They do that whole Dylan/Young thing they've been heralded towards (especially on sublime debut-single, 'Medicine Day', executed extravagantly this evening), but hurtling back at you also is a youthful panache and exuberance that has entranced and compelled all in recent times via their Deltasonic heritage and association, the likes of The Coral and The Zutons also providing such a backward-glancing, forward-thinking direction for '03 music.
Live, they convey the classic sprightliness of those that have preceded them, additionally twinning it with a ragged set of geetar-rhythms and John Mullins' own hearty, hoarse vocal-chords to a winning effect. And all that's missing is a touch more urgency - an attribute sure to be gained as they further grace stages across the UK on imminent live-shows and further exertions of their tunefully-inclined sort.
It soon ends, and what proves most immediately striking over the whole affair is the sheer dynamic and imagination that artists are being forced to conjure these days in order to gain attention over the rest of their half-hearted peers. It's most certainly rewarding to these three bands' credit that fast-approaching notoriety is the medal for their innovative, unobvious creative endeavour.
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