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Live Review
by SaschaS
25-11-2004
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| The Thrills surf the right no-wave |
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Live: The Thrills
Brixton Academy, London
Wednesday, November 24, 2004
The Thrills come of age, plus The Concretes' stirring
The ancient Latins thought us wisely Repente dives nemo factus est bonus - or, No one who becomes rich is made suddenly good - and it easily confirmed by The Thrills’ road experience. From the shy youngsters of few years ago they’ve matured into competitive performers who enjoy even the stage invasion. As it occurred last night, for instance. [For the difference from The Darkness that are falling deeper into the Spinal T[r]ap]…
Midway through the uplifting rendition of ‘Santa Cruz (You’re Not That Far)’ a stage invasion occurred. Unlike many other fellow artisans, the Americans in particular, The Thrills didn’t even appear to give a thought to security issue and singer Conor Deasy handed out maracas and shakers, guitarist Daniel Ryan and bassist Padraic McMahon passed on their instruments to shocked ‘invaders’ - drummer Ben Carrigan and keyboardist Kevin Horan kept the music going - before diving head-first into the remaining crowd.
It brought a sizeable climax to the show during which the young Dubliners proved that their mix [and love of] American West Coast sounds, harmonies, clap-along choruses and sun-kissed melodies can make a mark during the [industry induced] ‘pop’s dark ages’. The band’s second album ‘Let’s Bottle Bohemia’ is a more fertile offering than the debut ‘So Much For The City’.
For the quality music they offer, the band is still learning its stage craft and, despite penning insta-classic such as ‘One Horse Town’, Deasy needs to loosen up and get the damn jacket off: he looked too much like a lobster PDQ…
The band were ably supported by, their own preferred choice, The Concretes. The Swedish band’s offer of a gentle, ear-fondling, pop music was even less on the visual side but the tonality of it, the quietness, the sheer beauty, compensated greatly.
Flirting with dreams and fantasy, there is a retro element - of the Joy Division/The Doors vintage - as well as the post-modern pop sounds. Victoria Bergsman led the band into some really totally fruity tracks, be it ‘Say Something New’ or ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’… ‘The Concretes’ CD contains music to fall in love by!
An evening made for yearning eras of psyches.
~
Hit the pause!
The Thrills have been asked to support U2 on their tour but they can't decide whether to do it. They finished off their UK tour in London last night, but it's no rest for the rockers - they're off Down Under just after Christmas and in the New Year they support REM.
Singer Deasy says it would be a dream come true to support U2, but he's worried about how it might affect the band: "After the REM tour in the New Year we're gonna really, hopefully draw a line in the sand."
Although there are a few offers coming in that will be hard to turn down but we're going to try to take a break then because I think we need to. It definitely tests your friendships and it's good after the last few years of touring the world together that we still get on well."
"But, having said that, you don't need to test friendships to those kind of levels so it's good to get away from each other for a while, I think."
SaschaS
25-11-2004
The Thrills album 'Let's Bottle Bohemia' is available now on Virgin
The Concretes album 'The Concretes' is available on Licking Fingers/EMI
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