The Music - Bridlington Spa Royal Hall - 3/5/03
5/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Set-List: 'The Dance', 'Jag Tune', 'Truth Is No Words', 'Human', 'Float', 'New Instrumental', 'The People', 'Turn Out The Light', 'Getaway', 'Too High', 'Alone', 'Take The Long Road And Walk It', 'Disco', 'Walls Get Smaller'.
There surely cannot be a more quintessentially 'English' seaside town than Bridlington. The abundant fish and chip shops, the decaying, old-fashioned pubs, the crappy seafront fairground, the fortune-telling booths, the tacky amusement arcades: it's all here.
Somehow, it seems apt that The Music - a band who so resolutely representing the antithesis of the garage-rock deluge - should play in 'Brid'. And appropriately, they're doing so on the traditional seaside-visiting, May bank holiday weekend too. The venue itself - the magnificent, nineteenth century Royal Hall - also seems in keeping with the sunburn, sandals and string-vests ambience: it even bears a huge poster advertising Ken Dodd's forthcoming appearance. Seemingly then, everything's set for 'a classic British gig'.
Last night, the Kippax foursome played in Blackpool, at the very venue where fourteen years ago a performance by The Stone Roses catapulted them to official 'legendary' status. The comparisons between the two bands have been inevitable, given their mutual penchant for life-affirming, northern psychedelic swagger. But tonight's show goes a huge way in proving The Music are stars in their own right. They're playing the roles of homecoming heroes; football style chants of 'Yorkshire! Yorkshire!' are bellowed by the ecstatic crowd at regular intervals, and the initial entrance is plagued by that of sheer, unprocessed, pulse-racing expectation.
And it's a good job they perform brilliantly. Singer Rob Harvey seems to revel up there in the spotlight, an almost messianic figure with his flowing locks and shattering vocals. Up-tempo tracks such as 'Getaway' and 'The People' create an intense, almost rave-like euphoria amongst the 3,000-plus patrons of this venerable building, whilst the likes of 'New Instrumental' are just mesmerising, all towering, sky-high guitar-whooshes and bass-revolving acrobats in sound. It's absolutely colossal, and made all the more hard to believe when considering that the quartet before us were still slogging away on the small venues circuit a mere year ago.
Only one album into their career, and already on the threshold of greatness. Truly, The Music make for a more captivating soundtrack than ever before.
Artists in this article: The Music
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