A wise man once said 'dont believe the hype', but what about the flipside of that? After arriving late to find a band who seem to be doing a good job of 'Mon-ing the Biffy', I brace myself for what I'm told would be the equivalent of 'Towers Of London listening to Tago Mago instead of Never Mind The Bollocks'. However whilst I'm not blown away, I am pleasantly suprised
It seems the main two criticisms of Pure Reason Revolution are that they are 'overblown and delve too far into muso territories' and 'shambolic'. To an extent both of these criticsms are true, but its the same muso exploration that gets Mars Volta compering festivals performing in the same shambolic nature that gets so many London-based bands their moment in the limelight.
True, some songs veer to far to the wrong side of the ten minute mark and are hindered by repetition, but with music so full to the brim with ideas like previous single 'The Million Bright Ambassadors Of Morning' and 'Intention Craft' its better to give the tracks room to breathe than to suffocate them with radio-friendly track lengths. You may feel shameful doing so, but give Pure Reason Revolution enough time to reveal their charms and you will be glad you did. Don't believe the hate
For Oceansize see 'blessing in disguise'. As opener The Charm Offensive draws to a close we are notified that due to a club-night in the venue their set will be cut short by half an hour.
This would normally be a bad thing, however the shorter time-slot actually improves their set, with disappointing previous singles 'Heaven Alive' and 'New Pin' being cut, leaving an hour of Oceansize's greatest moments.
Live favourites 'Catalyst', 'Women Who Love Men Who Love Drugs' and 'One Out Of None' are delivered with more force than usual, singer Mike Vennart's obvious displeasure coming through his rasping vocals. The riffs are as brutal as they are precisive, and new bassist Steve doesn't miss a note
The set is finished with 'Ornaments/The Last Wrongs', a track that combines the bands searing melodic structures with multi-tracked choral backings, and while it doesn't sound as impressive as on record its still a perfect close and a perfect summarisation of Oceansize's schizophrenic post-metal.
.
heaven alive hasn't been played anywhere on this tour, not sure who "Mike Venhart" is either ;)
as for the rest, almost describes the exact situation at Leeds Cockpit. Why are there so many useless promoters that keep fucking it up for decent bands? If you know you're gonna run over time, cut one of the first bands so that the people paying the money to come and see the HEADLINE band, see ALL of them and not the full sets of the support bands.
time to make a stand, when a headline band's set is cut short, we deserve to get some of our money back from the promoter/venue
nope, we dont
bands have strict timeslots, which are available when purchasing tickets and are often put on the actual tickets (this is called a Curfew)
you cant expect money back when the gig goes as long as stated.
however, i do agree on the support band thing. did we really need the first band?
Jordan*
I have never
had a curfew printed on a ticket that I've bought, ANYWHERE. Dunno what world you live in
really?
you went to this gig right? im sure it says a closing time on it.
i also have tickets for Low in Birmingham and previous ones for Silver Mt Zion and Mew at the rescue rooms in nottingham with closing times on.
Jordan*
nope
i was merely desribing the situation I have experienced at many a gig for many a band all over the country.
All the tickets I've ever had have had the opening time and that's it. Honestly
I just don't think it's fair that support bands should play their full set whilst shortening the headline bands. It's a disgrace really
oh right
i think it may have been because of the age limit (there aren't that many 14+ gigs at rock city) that the curfew was so strict, they needed to get all those under 18 out because of the club-night, which would take time i guess.
Jordan*
?
"Mon-ing the Biffy"??? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Was the first band on Sucioperro? If so, then you really shaould have given them a chance. Also, yes, we needed 3 bands.
Didn't
the in house promoters do this show anyway?
it's frustrating when they fail to realise there is a club in their own venue until the headliner is actually onstage on the night.
hmmmm
not a bad review.
for a writer your spelling is a bit rubbish though!
spotted at least three glaring errors dude, sort your editor out....
i think you're a bit off the mark about PRR. they're good but i dont think you can in any way compare them to the experimentalism of the mars volta. for a start the drummer is average at best, playing essentially the same beat in most every song, which incidentally don't vary much in tempo either. they're all 'driving' rockers. if PRR had a more creatrive drummer they'd be shitloads better. btw, bassist is the sexiest female musican in a long while!
Apologies for the mistakes
They've all been rectified now.
been writing in Notepad, apologies
i wasnt comparing the bands themselves, just saying that Mars Volta are acclaimed for goin into prog territories, whereas PRR are criticised.
yeah
thats fair enough, but i think musically they are quite different. the word prog gets banded about far too often, its just music.
true
but what can you do. and i think PRR's music is close to traditional prog. ive seen Oceansize and Amplifier bein labelled as prog, which i dont think is accurate.
Jordan*
i'd hate to drag the conversation to this level but...
...she IS current worlds hottest bassist.
best lineup
i've seen for a long time, all 3 bands are ace and its a shame there was so many screw ups with the timeslots.
what wasn't mentioned in the review (i guess you missed it arriving late) is that the sucioperro lads were caught up in an accident on the way and it was a last minute decision to allow them to do 3 songs in a rush with no soundcheck. PRR had a full soundcheck (although Sucioperro played inbetween the soundcheck and PRR set) and did their set (i've heard people say they dropped one song from the setlist they've done the rest of the tour). Oceansize apparently hadn't had a soundcheck which is why they spent 20+ minutes soundchecking at the start of their set and because the curfew was (somewhat surprisingly) 22:00, instead of the usual 22:30 for a club night, they had to cut their set short.
all this aside, all 3 bands were quality and i think its a shame that sucioperro are just labelled as a biffy tribute band when they're cracking in their own right, and a shame that PRR get so much abuse for appearing pretentious. The Last Wrongs was the best closing song i have seen at a gig, beautiful!
good review
Jordan, nice one sir. I'm a bit sad I missed this one....
i heard the same about sucioperro
i dont think their sound was that bad though, to say they didnt soundcheck. just didnt get anything from the songs.
oceansize had a soundcheck before the gig im told, but because they arrived late it wasnt a full check.
and i think my expectations for the Last Wrongs were a little high.
Jordan*
who on earth....
....ever mentioned Towers Of London in the same sentence as Pure Reason Revolution? Thats a comparison I'll never understand. Also 'shambolic'? I'd say that they are the opposite of a shambles which is kind of my problem with them live and with 'The Dark Third' album, its just all a bit perfect if you know what I mean. Still, I love them and loved the show....
towers of london?
it must be the hair
i dunno, was someone elses description of them
why would you say they were the opposite of shambles? The vocals were quite off key and the drums came in too early in several parts (mostly 'bright ambassodors)
i do pick up what yr saying with their recorded material though.
Jordan*
shame the set was cut
this tour has been mindblowing at other dates.