My Awesome Compilation, Sheffield Corporation
The first band I saw of the night was Rotherham’s answer to Leatherface – Four Dumb Kids. This is what happens when ska-punkers start listening to No Idea bands. They’re tighter than before, and their self-description of ‘Heartfelt Punk’ basically has them down to a tee. The vocals are gruff, the songs have a social conscience and they’re a lot more stripped down and raw than they have been in previous months, but without losing their melodic edge, energy and sense of humour. I was very impressed. (8)
Kneehigh were up next. I was expecting great things from this band, after falling in love with the 'Open Arms' EP and other tracks I’d heard kicking around. I wasn’t disappointed. The kids in Corporation lapped up Kneehigh’s brand of poppy yet emotional rock. To me, they’re like The Get Up Kids without the keyboards having some kind of melodic love-in with Inspection 12. I couldn’t fault any of their set – they played a lot from their new EP 'The Dignity of Labour', most notably 'Hopesfall' – which is an anthem in the making. They did play 'Open Arms' from their earlier EP – which quite frankly made my night. I know a couple of people in the crowd found them a bit bland, but I thought they were amazing – the Corporation is such a difficult venue to play – the sound isn’t great and the venue itself is strangely set out. I’d suggest a few listens to them on record before committing to any kind of negative opinion of Kneehigh. I can see the band headed the way of The Maple State – success is on the horizon for these Norwich boys. They were the band of the night for me, without a doubt. (8)
After the success of Kneehigh, MAC pretty much had their work cut out for them. Of course, they’ve built a solid following and this gig proved that they deserve it. This was only my second experience of seeing MAC live, and I have to admit whilst I appreciate what they do, I’ve never really got into them. That said, they did their best to win me over into their ever-growing army of fans by playing a great set. There was some new material being showcased – which went down well with the crowd; as well as older crowd-pleasers like 'Butterflies' which had everyone indulging in a good old MAC singalong at the end. Again, the sound in the venue let them down somewhat but they did what they came to do – poured out their hearts to the crowd via punky emo rock - something that we probably all should be tired of by now, but somehow MAC manage to make it sound fresh and sincere. (7)
This gig was a huge success for Hidden Records; Sheffield seems to be slowly crawling out of the gig recession it’s been in for the past few months. With bands like Koufax in the gig pipeline, it seems as though things are finally looking up.
Gem
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