The NME tour:
Starsailor, Alfie, Amen, JJ72
Newcastle
Feb 2001

review by Katie

Upon entering the NME Premier shows I was astounded to find the audience were being entertained by a wet, wimpy snivelling dishcloth. Also known as Starsailor. In all honesty I have no sympathy with this band, they have been over-hyped to buggery and the only distinguishable song in their catsick of a set was the omni-present "Fever". The new-hopes of the British music industry (God help us all) dribble hazy- sunshine- on- an overcast- day through their droning, strumming guitars and flat, uninteresting vocals. If not comatose by the end of one song you may realise that they all sound the same. Damn right. In the words of a (NME pay attention!) TRULY revolutionary force in music... "Don't believe the hype".

Alfie are a refreshing change. Though by no means revolutionary themselves they are far more worthy of the Starsailor hype. Prodigies of Damon "Badly Drawn" Gough and his pals at Twisted Nerve (but don't let that put you off) they are a jangly, laid-back, progressive amalgamation of the early Charlatans and the Bluetones with a smidge of Elliott Smith thrown in for good measure. They coast through a set of sun-drenched rhythmic songmongery with ease, and despite looking like Mancunian Ian- Brown- inspired louts show a true talent for good tunage and bags of musical dexterity; alternating instruments and showing that they really can play. The obligatory harmonica adds a timeless quality to simple uncomplicated songs. Not rocket science but in the current musical climate a fantastic band to enjoy for their simple brilliance.

Amen. Mmm. To be honest during Amen I went to the bar. There I found the rest of the audience. This says a lot for Amen. While Casey Chaos and co. screamed about their, twenty- years- too- late, teenage angst the "kids", who didn't know any better- bless them, moshed along to the uninteresting wave of tuneless, and not even very exciting metal. I would like to point out that I am by no means geriatric, and should not have been served at said bar, but reserve the right to be disgusted at the "kids" mindless acceptance of anything nu-metal.

JJ72, are becoming more and more of a musical phenomenon. Greaney's vocal are earth-shattering live and the songs heart-felt quality managed to convert me, a sceptic who had always thought them to be simple variations on one and the same song. "Snow" blew the audience away, yet Greaney seemed loftily arrogant throughout the set keeping all communication with the audience to a bare minimum and appearing displeased with his audience (or loyal subjects as I am sure he refers to us). His bassist pouted and stumbled her way through the set seemingly unappreciative of the testosterone fuelled shouts of Hillary followed by various lewd invitations. Greaney was not amused at his spotlight being stolen as the audience crushed around her and poured his frustration furhter into the songs. "October Swimmer" inspired a magnificent singalong and many stopped moshing to absorb the emotive sound of Greaney's lyrics and screaming guitar. Congratulations to Fergal for playing drums despite injuring his ankle, but this was barely acknowledged on a night of struggle for audience attention between a charismatic and musically talented lead singer and an uncharismatic and erm... not so musically talented bassist.