Support for the night was from Dingus Khan, an enthusiastic group of misfits who seemed to be really enjoying themselves playing music. Although I wasn’t keen on their music, it’s great to see bands who really don’t care and just go for it and enjoy themselves.

The next support act was Kins. Bland.

This was the closing night of the UK leg of Wolf Alice’s tour and also their hometown gig. I was surprised to find them playing lots of new material tonight. It all sounded nice but there wasn’t anything with the immediacy of say Blush. But all sounded like they’ll make good album tracks.

Ellie sounding (and looking) great

The only downer on the night was that I managed to hurt my finger in a crush when Ellie came to the fence right next to me and all the kids surged forward to try and get near her. Two weeks later, it still hasn’t healed!

Younghusbands

Wytches

Bo Ningen

Tonight’s gig was at Heaven. I’m not a fan of Heaven. Gigs have an early curfew so that Heaven’s club nights can take place. The room itself is far too long for the width of the stage, so unless you’re at the front, you can’t really see anything. But even if you are at the front, the stage is very high, so you’re always looking up at the bands. (However the guys who work the pit are amongst the nicest around, always pleasant and chatty). It also means when it gets boisterous it’s hard to avoid it. (I’m getting old). Tonight was one of those occasions when I just had to go with it.

The night wasn’t off to a strong start. Paws, a band from Glasgow were the support. Nothing particularly bad about them, but equally nothing much of interest. But if as they did last night, try to play a song in ‘record time’, they probably don’t care much about the song writing craft and it’s extremely unlikely that I’ll hear from them again.

Vancouver’s Japandroids are a heavy fuzz laden garage-rock band. Their new album, Celebration Rock, is regarded by many as one of the best albums of the year. With only a drummer and a guitarist who doubles up on vocals. It would be easy for them to have a fairly uninteresting live show. But thankfully this is not the case. The drums are placed on one side of the stage facing across the stage, rather than facing the audience and the Brian the singer / guitarists exuberantly uses the rest of the stage.

Although I thought the vocals were lost in wall of fuzz. Even when Brian was talking to the crowd, it was difficult to hear him for where I was standing at the front. Last night Japandroids were on form. With the added familiarity of their new material, the crowd also responded with what seemed like a constant stream of kids crowd surfacing.

There were a lot of highlights. But the highlight for me was ‘The House That Heaven Built’. It’s Japandroids take on anthemic rock. With a driving beat and a chance for the audience to participate, I thought it worked much better live than it does on the album.

Having seen them two weeks earlier at SXSW I knew the gig would call heavily on their new material. The SXSW gig was enjoyable but suffered from some sound problems. But the new material sounded good. Luckily my copy of Blood Pressures arrived the morning of the gig so I had the chance to give the album a few listens to prepare me for the gig.

The sound of the new album is a departure from the earlier albums. It seems to reflect the fact that Jamie and Alison are maturing as artists. Alison has clearly benefited from her time with The Dead Weather. Tonight she stalked around the stage restlessly but with the confidence of somebody at the top of her game. Alison’s always been able to carry the songs through her attitude. But it was on the new song ‘Last Goodbye’ that showed how much she’s improved as an artist. This song is a departure for the Kills and relies on Alison’s to deliver a much more measured performance, something she did brilliantly.

As usual, the gig was a touch short. Leaving me wanting more. Luckily they return to London later in the summer.