Reviews

The majority of bands from these shores emulating their Stateside peers usually suffer from sounding somewhat false and very forced. But the boys in You Me At Six have studied their craft diligently and escape the many pitfalls their contemporaries encounter.

You Me At Six

And the masses seem to have noticed; tonight, there’s a surprisingly large section of the crowd very vocal in their acceptance, and even though their music is far removed from the headliners - a very 'in vogue' blend of pop melodies, chunky riffs and group chants – the assembled can’t get enough.

Lurching from a band with a future to a band with a past, Angels & Airwaves are - in contrast to their support - polished, glossy and completely vapid. Not even the most devout fan here could say ex-Blink 182 frontman Tom Delonge isn't punching above his weight in this band. To go from a band equally enamoured with catchy riffs as they were with tasteless humour, to a band claiming to 'change the face of music' is, as is perfectly obvious tonight, ridiculous.

The songs do, to a certain extent, capture a shimmery, U2-apeing epic quality, but take away the fancy effects pedals used every few minutes, and you're left with painfully average songs. And that’s not even mentioning Delonge's trademark whiney punk vocal, which is painfully out of place set against this type of music and even more painfully out of tune.

His band mates are certainly proficient, tirelessly pumping out seamless, tight arena rock, but Delonge is all over the place, shifting from preacher-like posturing to the childish mid-set banter of Blink days gone by, stopping briefly in between to make some very ropey comments about the Japanese.

A brief cover of Blink 182's ‘Reckless Abandon’ was the respite in an absolute shambles of a set that was lapped up by an audience too wrapped up in a front man’s past to notice how washed up he seems to be.