Crud can be really quite bad at making predictions. We thought
Coldplay had probably peaked when they sold out Brixton Academy at the tail end
of their first album and would just fade into indistinguishable mulch at the bottom
of indie history's bin. We honestly didn't think the public would be stoopid enough
to indulge The Darkness' charade further than 1st place in the 'Guffaw Guffaw
Yeah Whatever' category in end of year polls (glad to see you've been belatedly
introduced to common sense though). And we really thought the Beta Band might
be the new Rolling Stones and would play the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics
inside a giant washing machine at the personal behest of King Charles. It doesn't
necessarily mean we're wrong, in principle, just that we're not always right.
And we didn't think Editors had it in 'em, not for T4-munching mainstream
success. Nah. Which is no slight on their taut capabilities, nor their hat-trick
of killer singles through 2005, nor the wrestling of Interpol's dour-bass-pop
rusty-nail crown back to UK shores. They just seemed too serious, too pale, too
monochrome, perhaps just too uncontroversial to capture imaginations on any scale.
Live, there was no denying they could jab, possibly even above their weight, but
just not heavily enough. Like we said though, regrettably, like Michael Fish in
'87, our forecasts aren't always exact. The mass, throaty stadia sing-alongs
to the zestful-punk minimalism of 'Munich' and the strung-up pounding of 'Fingers
In The Factories', the best part of 5,000 voices nudging 'anthemic' onto a list
of approved adjectives more usually tipped towards 'moody', 'introverted' and
'morose', see that we're proved wrong. It's like the Ark in Brixton Academy tonight
- most strains of music fan, from wide-eyed 16 year olds, to Goths, to indie-fringed
students, to the more elderly listener, accessorised girlies and beefy beered-up
lads hollering along like Ricky Kaiser Chief mauling Oasis and jumping wildly
out of style and time, lope in 2 by 2, 4 by 4 - there can be no denying they've
crossed over, even if you'd never have predicted it. They were always confident,
or at least they were never that meek, but Tom launches wide-eyed onto stage with
the look of a man carrying a naked flame, knowing not exactly what he's capable
of, just that it's probably going to end with him having to explain himself in
a small dark cell amid the lingering smell of paraffin. Chris climbs the speaker
stack gripping his guitar with unflinching visceral intent. Red lights = danger.
They only let this wired retro-revolutionary momentum dip by opening with 'Someone
Says', not their strongest ace and a little early U2-lite, but they correct this
quickly with the dark mid-paced factory regimentation of 'All Sparks' and the
increased hyperdrive of 'Blood'. Tom is an object of fascination throughout,
not so much juddering around the stage to the music in a wiry tangle of limbs
and guitar, but rather bounding in uncharted patterns of motion waiting fro the
music to catch him up, starting as he does sometimes before the first beat has
thumped out of the PA. He seems, when he talks as much as when he moves (passionately
in both instances), a busy collision of nervous energy, and his rather unconventional
dancing style appears to be a direct result of the passage between that, the desire
to give his songs a 3D presence and in order to extend a hand of connection towards
his audience. He may cut a much more ordinary figure than many pop stars we become
obsessed with, but his presence onstage is genuine, intuitive and exaggerated
without becoming needlessly eccentric (unlike Alan Rakes, for instance). Which,
coupled with the industrious strength of the songs, goes someway to explain the
fervour. Relevant sites:
www.editorsofficial.com/
James Berry for Crud Magazine 2006©
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| 01/06 Morning After Girls Interview
01/06 The Roger Sisters Interview
01/06 The Spinto Band Interview
01/06 The Longcut Interview
01/06 Union of Knives Interview
01/06 7/7 July Bombings London
01/06 Adem / Tunng - Live - West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds
01/06 Beach Boys - Pet Sounds - 40th Anniversary Deluxe CD / DVD
01/06 Broken Social Scene - London Astoria
01/06 Camden Crawl 2006
01/06 Editors - LIve - Brixton Academy
01/06 Elliott Kennedy - Song Meanings
01/06 Four Day Hombre Interview
01/06 Gram Parsons - Fallen Angel DVD
01/06 Hot Chip Live - LIve - Caberte Volatire - Edinburgh
01/06 Jackson Analogue, Digital, Newcastle
01/06 Latitude Festival, Henham Park, Beccles, Suffolk
01/06 Liam Frost - Live - Cockpit, Leeds
01/06 Little Man Tate, Cockpit, Leeds
01/06 Monty Python Remastered Collection
|  | 01/06 New Pornographers / Spoon - Live - London Koko
01/06 NME Shows 2006
01/06 Orange Lights - Carling Academy, Newcastle
01/06 Protokoll - Live - Cabaret Voltaire, Edinburgh
01/06 Shout Out Louds - Live - Leeds, Cockpit
01/06 Airlines, Flights, Terror Plot July 2006
01/06 The National - Brixton Academy, London
01/06 Wireless Festival 2006
January 2001
July - August 2001
September - October 2001
November - December 2001
January - March 2002
April - July 2002
August - December 2002
January - March 2003
May - August 2003
November 2003
January - March 2004
April - September 2004
October - December 2004
January - March 2005
April - December 2005
January - August 2006
September - December 2006
January - September 2007
October - December 2007
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