The Enemy / Figure 5, cabaret voltaire, 26 january 2007.
I find it slightly worrying sometimes just how old certain things make me feel – like some of my mates being 20 (!!) on the day of their uni graduation, my flatmate complaining about turning 21 last week, being able to have relationship conversations with my cousins (they used to be so litte and innocent!!), realising that some of the people in my highs chool graduating class are married and expecting kid #1 in 2 months, and getting flattered (rather than annoyed) when I get asked for ID when buying wine at tesco.
Now, I know I really have no reason to feel old (it’s not all downhill from 22, right? Right??!) but it’s still a really weird feeling when seeing a band live that you really like on the radio have that same effect...
So, 5 days on from my flatmate Amy’s 21st birthday, we went off to Cabaret Voltaire for a night of drinks, energetic live music, and poster-stealing antics.
Opening act, Figure 5, hailed from Glasgow which immediately convinced Amy that the whole thing was worth the £9 she had to pay for her ticket at the door and I must admit there has been a really cool vibe about the Glaswegian bands I’ve had the pleasure of catching live at various gigs (like Shitdisco on the NME Club Tour, the band we caught at the Bongo Club on John Peel day whose name I was too drunk to write down and now have forgotten, and The Low Miffs who opened for - and partly outshone – The Blood Arm) and Figure 5 definitely had that vibe as well. At first, they reminded me of a non-stadium version of Kaiser Chiefs with the lead singer definitely channelling his best inner Ricky Wilson (the blazer definitely helped...). But as their set went on, a unique and slightly country-sounding edge emerged at times and the track ‘none the wiser’, which came up near the end, was a brilliantly powerful sing-along anthem.
After Figure 5’s successful stint on stage, we decided it was time for another red stripe (ah what a classy choice of beer on our part) and I decided I had to have one of the posters that were hanging right next to the bar and ripped it off the wall without even the slightest hint of subtlety – I still can’t work out how I got away with that but oh well...
Back at the front of the stage, we were ready for The Enemy. Or more accurately: we thought we were ready for The Enemy. When 3 young boys ran on stage we assumed they were there to do the soundcheck... this is why you should always browse a few of bands’ photos on their MySpace profiles before going to gigs! The 3 boys turned out to be the actual band we were there to see. Turns out they are actually 18 years old so I probably shouldn’t call them boys but they just looked so young! The emo hair-cuts may not have helped them look more mature to compensate for their height and general built either. Oh and howcome there are only 3 people? It really seemed like there was a member or 2 missing to complete the line-up...
At this moment in time, the age-thing becomes less of an issue and The Enemy really just have two major things working against them – their hair and their lack of a rhythm guitarist. Yet somehow I only managed to stay put off the band for about the time it took lead singer Tom to play 5 chords… their energy was wicked from the very second they walked onto the stage and throughout their set it didn’t stop. That their sound is more rock than indie-pop definitely worked in their favour and I was glad to realise there wasn’t a pair of skinny jeans in sight. In the end, I think their most impressive feat, in my eyes, was causing a full-on moshpit at Cabaret Voltaire. I do hope this energetic sound translates onto the eventual album and isn’t just a feature of their live shows. Based on this gig, 1st single ‘it’s not ok’ is quite the standard The Enemy-sounding song which hopefully doesn’t mean we will loose interest in these young Coventry-lads as the next couple of singles are released. It really would be a shame if their punk-ish take on the current indie scene got lost in NME’s hype of some less exciting but more predictable-sounding band (which you just gotta admit they do have a tendency to do).
We left this gig on a live-music high. I have criticised Cabaret Voltaire’s concert-venue potential in previous posts but on this occasion, I emerged from the undeground cave that this venue is feeling like I had just left a proper gig. And there is really only the bands to thank for that J
Oh, and our final poster-count upon return to the flat was 8… that’s pretty decent, right?
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