The Music / The Rain Band - Oxford Zodiac - 20/9/02
4/5
By: Toby L
It seems somewhat fitting that such a happening as The Music playing on a Friday night to a sell-out crowd occurs in Oxford of all places. After all, with a clutch of songs (and haircuts) that evoke freaky dancin' of the most dangerous variety - and, believe us, such body-movements are unveiled this evening on multiple occasions - this town's predominantly student-orientated population is the perfect audience, all Stone Roses T-shirts and drunken swaggers. But, despite the impact of the past, what heralds the dreams of tonight's pair of relative newcomers is the untainted, unsullied vision of the future for British guitar-music.
Opening for tonight's headliners are Manchester's The Rain Band. A group not content with the mere drums-bass-vocalist set-up, they indulge within a shimmering set of DAT-samples, pre-sequenced keyboard-loops and top it off with a classic Ian Brown-esque attitude, singer Richard Nancollis strutting on the spot with the same prowess, vocal-distinction and energy as King Monkey himself, circa 1989.
Yet, once again, this isn't then - this is all very much now, such deeply engaging numbers as the opening thump of 'Island' and naggingly infectious closer 'Into The Light' embedding themselves into skulls with the same ease and subtlety needed to stick a pin into even the fluffiest of cotton-wool. With titles such as 'Fist Of Fury', 'Eye 4 An Eye' and 'The World Is Ours', too, evidently, these boys won't stop 'til we become their humbled, devoted, loyal subjects. Which ain't a bad thing.
So on to tonight's main attraction - a group that have already announced plans to play an almost-arena tour for the start of 2003 in the UK, and a band with a tour-schedule that should see such locales as the US, Japan and Europe falling over in excitement at the quartet's arrival in their shores before the end of the year. Yes, all this can be achieved so soon, because, quite simply, The Music are 2002 all over: rich in ideas, youthful in attitude and age, naturally talented, and bold enough to inspire wide-spread musical-evolution.
From the outset, the scattering, aloof guitar shudder of 'The Dance' promises what the following sixty-five minutes provide: earth-shatteringly large arrangements of groove-heavy bass and thundering drums. It's perfectly complemented by frontman Rob Harvey, a man now unafraid to let go in public and hop around the stage in the same vein as a hopelessly intoxicated hippie, pulling peace-symbols with his two fingers to a room that mimics his every motion. Alongside this, magically, he's able to sing and chant in a dazed confidence that harks back to the greats before them, his monsieurs Nutter, Coleman and Jordan perplexingly hitting the spots and reaching for the notes their contemporaries cannot and never will attain.
Thus, with the whirlwind of noise, rush of enthusiasm that greets the 'Shaft'-esque intro of finest moment 'The People', and a room so focussed on enjoyment that you're certain this stuff could settle conflicts of all proportions, even all this proves to be just half of the event. For, oh yes, this is not even taking into account the trippy wizardry of 'Human', up-tempo 'Let Love Be The Healer', funked-up 'Disco' and riotously rousing 'The Truth Is No Words'. Or the deafening instrumentals, which crush the centre of the set into a towering 'Take The Long Road & Walk it' and ease out the evening in a blaze of blinding lights. As a complete experience, the sensations encountered are unheard of.
The future of music, then. Well, if it's to be what was witnessed here tonight - and, hopefully, it will be - then it's the classiness of the past, slapped together with the fresh ideas and abilities of today. And, boy, that means we will be the lucky ones.
Photo-Credit: Ranald Pringle
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