Alkaline Trio, Sheffield Leadmill
Thanks to the lovely people at Goldstar, the Alkaline Trio gig at the Leadmill promised to be quite a special one. Arriving at the venue to find a queue spiralling round the block and a complete lack of bouncers on the door (Why didn’t people just, like, go in? Maybe I’ve underestimated the likelihood of people abusing these situations) I tiptoed inside for a meeting with the mighty Chuck from Hot Water Music. And what a thoroughly good bloke he was too!
After chatting to the diminutive yet still built-like-a-brick-shit-house guitarist/vocalist, I traipsed back into the Leadmill to see openers SIXTY MILE SMILE. I was immediately baffled as to how a band from Buckinghamshire (I think…) managed to acquire such an American singing voice, but my attention was soon distracted by the gurning drummer. The drum kit was in the middle/front of the stage, as to not interfere with the Alk3 set up on the riser, so the drummer was in full view of everybody, throwing absurd rock star shapes, pulling faces as though he was about to explode in a fit of rage, and banging his drums like Animal from the Muppet Show. As you can probably tell, none of the songs really caught my attention whatsoever and despite being named after a fantastic song by a fantastic band, they failed to impress me with their predictable and simple poppy punk rock. (5)
When you’ve been around as long as HOT WATER MUSIC have, you have a certain air of confidence surrounding your live performances and as the seasoned veterans took the stage, you could tell the gulf in quality from the openers. In just over half an hour, they knocked out the jerky ‘I Was On A Mountain’, the anthemic ‘Choked and Separated’, the fantastic ‘Wayfarer’ and ended on the all time classic ‘Turnstile’. Granted, the biggest cheer did come when Matt Skiba joined them onstage to sing, but then most of the naïve youngsters in the crowd were there to worship at the temple of Skiba and therefore the reaction was unsurprising. However, what they failed to realise was that Hot Water Music had just played an absolutely blinding set full of brilliant songs, natural energy and perfect musicianship. (8.5)
And so to the ALKALINE TRIO. The band most people were here to see and who had a hell of a lot to live up to, it being my first time seeing them live. Unfortunately, they chose to open the set with the first 3 songs from their ‘average at best’ new album, Good Mourning. While ‘This Could Be Love’ and ‘We’ve Had Enough’ are both fantastic songs to open the set with, ‘100 Stories’, like the majority of the new album, is enjoyable yet ultimately disappointing. This theme continued throughout the set, with the likes of ‘Emma’ and ‘All On Black’ making mildly unwelcome appearances. With only 50 minutes on stage, I would have hoped for more ‘classic’ Trio songs, but was let down by the lack of ‘I’m Dying Tomorrow’, ‘Bleeder’, ‘She Took Him To The Lake’ or ‘Clavicle’. However, the likes of ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’, the fantastic ‘Cringe’ and the astounding Hot Water Music/Alkaline Trio ‘Radio’ collaboration to finish the night. (7)
All in all, it was an evening of ups and downs. Starting off well with the interview with Chuck, dropping significantly with the poor Sixty Mile Smile, rocketing back up there with Hot Water Music and then a slight drop off during Alkaline Trio, finishing on a high with ‘Radio’.
Ross
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