Alkaline Trio, Leicester Princess Charlotte
On a cold winters night, at the beginning of December, a slowly expanding number of people could be seen shivering outside the Princess Charlotte in Leicester. What were these idiots doing? Well, my friends, these idiots had the hottest tickets in town. They were hours away from seeing one of Alkaline Trio’s first UK gigs.
The Charlotte isn’t one of the cleanest or biggest venues in the world but, due to its extended opening times, it does give good value for money. Tonight’s bill featured no less than four bands. However, most people were only there to see one band, which was a good thing, because the support bands didn’t exactly set the world on fire!
Openers 69th Mourning had a fairly decent sound but the hardcore vocals just didn’t suit the music. The second band, whose name I didn’t catch, hailed from Ireland. Again they had a nice sound, but weren’t the sort of act who should be on a bill headlined by Alkaline Trio. I was interested to see what sort of sound main support Crackout would produce. They had previously been trumpeted by the bible that is Kerrang (me, sarcastic, never!) as one of the great hopes for 2001. To be brutally honest, by their third song I was bored, and by their sixth song I was really bored. Some kids at the front seemed to enjoy the set, but they were probably too young to know any better. (Either that, or they had consumed too many Alco pops!)
It was approaching 11 and Alkaline Trio still hadn’t made their appearance. After standing through three mediocre bands, they were going to have to be pretty special to send me home happy. However, when Matt, Dan and Derek climbed onto the tiny stage, and launched into forthcoming single ‘Private Eye’, I knew I wasn’t going to be disappointed.
Further songs from their latest album, the superb ‘From Here to Infirmary’ followed, including ‘Take Lots With Alcohol’ and ‘Mr Chainsaw’, before they dived into their back catalogue with the melodic ‘Clavicle’. What was immediately noticeable was the sheer amount of raw energy and emotion the band put into their performance.
Matt Skiba proved himself to be something of a hero during the set. He repeatedly attempted to calm the activity of the crowd, for their own safety. And when temperatures in the venue soared, he requested water to be thrown over the sweaty rows of fans. However, throughout the whole set, Matt and Dan were beaming, the band were genuinely having a good time and fed off the crowds enthusiasm.
‘Armageddon’ and ‘Crawl’ worked the crowd up before the band launched into the predictably popular ‘Stupid Kid’. But there was a twist. Matt renamed the song ‘Birthday Boy’ for the benefit for a guy called Tom, who was in the audience and celebrating his 20th birthday. (Make that one more vote for Matt Skiba: Hero!)
Perhaps the highlight of the whole set came in the encore. The band played a rousing version of ‘Radio’, the last song from the bands second album ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’. That song summed up more than any other why Alkaline Trio are one of the finest punk bands currently doing the rounds. Quite simply, they write superb songs, with high standards of lyrical content, and they connect with their audiences more than many bands could ever dream of doing.
Alkaline Trio should be commended for making the trip to the UK when many bigger names have cried off. Their performance lit up a cold winters night, and made the boredom of the support bands worthwhile. I don’t think we will see the band in venues this small again though…
Mark
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