Brand New, Sheffield Leadmill
A one-off gig that’s not in London? Hats off sirs, a real treat for us northern kids who often get a bum deal when touring bands decide to use the nation’s capital for their days off. Brand New are pretty big right now. With around 30,000 UK album sales for ‘Deja’, and nigh on 500,000 worldwide, there’s a real buzz about the band. Best of all, it’s pretty much all been done by word of mouth and, originally, on an indie label. Who says indies are dead? Anyway, with Brand New over here for their arena tour with Incubus, the band de-camped to Sheffield for one night only for a sold-out sermon.
THE NEXT NINE YEARS were a late addition to the bill, and boy, these kids rock. Just 18-years-old, the quartet come from Bridgend, the home of Funeral For A Friend, Lostprophets and Hondo Maclean, so they are already in good company. Thankfully the band don’t sound anything like those bans; instead they come across like a more aggressive, and less poppy, Early November. With two note-perfect singers, and a very large sound, TNNY are certainly going to be a band to watch out for this year. (8.5)
It’s no secret that Punktastic has been behind MY AWESOME COMPILATION since day one. They’ve grown with us and we’ve grown with them, so playing to 900 people at the Leadmill and going down really well was a real treat for me. I’ve said many-a-time that it was never a matter of if they got big, just when, and now the seeds are being sown. By the time closer ‘Miracle Mile’ is being blasted out, the 900-strong crowd are lapping it up. To be fair the sound was pretty bad, the bass getting the worst of it, but MAC are on fire and loving every minute. Newie ‘Short and Sweet’ sounds like The Get Up Kids on crack, while single ‘As Always’ is now getting a buzz with it on Scuzz TV at least once a day. The band sold a lot of CDs after the gig, testament to just how well they did. It really couldn’t happen to a nicer band; last night was a great moment to look upon one of Punktastic’s favourites and see how far they’ve come. (8.5)
What can be said about BRAND NEW that hasn’t been said before? Jesse Lacey is a genius, and from the opening strains of ‘OK I Believe You, But My Tommy Gun Don’t’ the crowd sings every word straight back. The set mainly sticks to new songs, infact the first half a dozen featured from ‘Deja Entendu’, but by the time ‘Seventy Times Seven’ is inflicted, the mass, sweaty throng is already converted. It’s pointless trying to pick highlights because every moment was fantastic. Brand New are a band who can take whatever direction they want and know they will do well. If they want mainstream domination with the next record, it’s there for the taking. If they want to come back with another change of direction, you know that will be amazing too. God bless bands like Brand New. (9.5)
www.thenextnineyears.com
www.myawesomecompilation.com
www.brandnewrock.com
Paul
PS – Cheers to the Sorepoint guys, bands and Tom who looked after me so well!
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