Ged Camera (gig: 26/07/06) When front man Leon Blanchard steps onto the stage and asks "Is everyone ok?", he’s already visibly melting in the heat. As the band launch into a furious opener, one wonders if the band can complete a set if they try to maintain that intensity.
Bright Lights (pic: Ged Camera)
They like the big, melodic sound that fills the musical spaces. For commercial success, they seem to tick all the right boxes - from Blanchard's, rasping, imploring voice to the rolling piano-like segments via the effective guitar chords - and they certainly manage to get the crowd up off their seats and dancing along, despite the temperatures inside.
Perhaps it’s their youthful exuberance (two 18 and two 17 year olds) that allows their influences to shine through a bit too easily – I thought one song was about to lead into Coldplay’s Yellow - and a comparison can easily be made with Keane, especially as the wrought emotion produced by Blanchard matches that of Tom Chapin
After a public recommendation by the Kooks to check out this band, their number of ‘friends’ on MySpace grew from the hundreds to the thousands. It may just be the push they need.
