[Aternative, Rock]Firstly the support bands: Canterbury and Viva Machine. Neither had I heard of before but both bands managed to impress me. Though, it must be said both bands were very similar in style to the Automatic themselves but they were ok, they made a good listen, and Viva Machine got a few of younger members of the audience going.
Then it was the AUTOMATIC ! The last time I saw these guys were when they headlined the NME shockwaves tour along with the view, the horrors and Mumm-ra, back in the early months of 2007. I remember it clearly, they wrecked the joint ! Crowd surfers were flying over head like black birds, people were unable to remain still and steady, drinks were flying everywhere and the Automatic need not have bothered singing anything, for fans done it for them !
However this time was very different. First off they were playing in a tiny former church as a venue and a lot had changed since then. The Autos had been off the music scene for a while recording new songs with their new man; Paul Mullen (previously of YourCodeNameIs: Milo), the replacement of Pennie (Autos keyboardist). Also the crowd held a vast mix of young and old, was quite unusual ! Well anyway they took to the stage with a massive roar from the small crowd and jumped straight into the deep end with playing a brand spanking new tune.
And you know what ? It was darn tooting good as well. They pumped through their set revealing they still had as much, if not more energy than before and played with great passion and enthusiasm. However, the crowd was pretty dull. Only a few people expressed their energy, the rest, it has to be said, stood like lemons. This was obviously disappointing to the band who made continual comments that even though they were in a church they didn't have to remain silent ! I'm not sure if this was due to such a mixed audience or the fact that Pennie was the band member who had most contact with the fans and encouraged them to go wild. Though looking past this their set was incredible, most of their new material was upbeat, lively and fresh, though a few tracks did sound a bit too similar.
Overall they proved that they still had it in them to pull of a rocking show !
Roll on the album !
June 2008
Review Raver : Stephanie Leiston
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