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Gig Review: The NME Rock ‘n’ Roll Riot Tour, The Apollo, Manchester, Oct. 10, 2007

About a week or two ago I heard this great song on the radio and with the constant plays on Radio One it wasn’t long before I not only knew the full lyrics, but that it was called ‘You’re Not Alone’ by The Enemy. Fast forward to Saturday morning just gone and I bought the album and by the Sunday night I had scored a ticket from Scarlet Mist. As you can see it has been a short love affair but one I must confess based on tonight’s performance is one that will last hopefully a very long time.

Now due to the renovations at the Academy not being complete, the gig was moved to the Apollo and I am sure you all know that the Apollo can be hit or miss, and I can honestly say I have seen more bad gigs here they any other place but also three of my favourite gigs of all time: Billy Idol, David Lee Roth and Jet have all been in this venue. I was more worried though of the effect of the smoking ban in the grotty hole as I was sure this would be one of the venues most affected [Ed: The Apollo has always been non-smoking. The ban should not affect the place at all] due to the air and lack of sunlight, but I am pleased to say that not only did the smoking ban not hamper most people lighting up, and it did not have that musty stench I was anticipating.

On to the gig itself – billed the NME Rock ‘N’ Riot Tour I must first apologise to the young girl who approached me and asked for my email address for the NME mailing list: the sheer look of contempt I gave her was unjust. However when I got in, I caught the start of The Wombats, who were better than I expected for a bunch of Liverpudlians. I wouldn’t go so far as to buying the album, but their energy on stage was electric, they moved with passion, sang with heart and really ‘rocked’ the venue. I enjoyed standing back and watching the crowd go wild at their songs. There must have been about 200 or so in the mosh pit at the front, all of whom were about 14 and it was nice to see a whole new generation of kids coming into the music scene.

Unfortunately, next up was Lethal Bizzle, a three-piece bunch of gangster rap wannabes. Believe me I wouldn’t wish these guys on anyone. The main guy looked like he needed a good meal in him and a couple of slaps around the face for his total admiration of himself. The second guy or ‘back up – I am just riding on my ‘homies’ wave -looked like any generic doorman, whilst the ‘mixer/MC’ was a double of Miss Jay from America’s Next Top Model. It was when these were on that my faith in society was restored (and my hatred of NME confirmed for putting these on the bill) when the crowd in unison booed and chanted ‘GET OFF’.

With the well-produced imagery of The Enemy’s album cover of train station destination board and my chances to win things from NME, the time soon went before The Enemy appeared opening up with ‘Away From’ here and then perhaps their most catchy track, ’40 Days and 40 Nights’ which for some reason I can’t get out of my head. Next up was ‘Technodanceaphobic’ which by this time the crowd was dancing so hard that the only relief to the heat generated was the pints being thrown from above. ‘Had Enough’ had everyone singing along as did their next single ‘Aggro and Pressure’. The only song that did not make the mark was the following song whose title escapes me, but the riff in the song does, like most their songs, remind me of a different song and in this case I can’t help but think of ‘Common People’ by Pulp [Ed: If you must review NME-sponsored bilge, please don’t insult Pulp while you do it.]. ‘We’ll Live and Die In These Towns’, which holds a striking resemblance to the Style Council, was well-performed and was followed by ‘This Song’ and ‘It’s Not OK’. The fastest encore in the history of music barely gave the audience a chance to catch its breath when they returned with ‘Happy Birthday Jane’ which is not really suited to stage but makes a good album track and they finished off with ‘You’re Not Alone’ which was excellent. The whole evening was superb, although I did not expect it to be. This was equally credited to the crowd as it was to the bands. The whole floor was one giant mosh pit for most of The Enemy and it is nice to see that the kids of today know how to rock.

The Enemy – 40 Days and 40 Nights

The Enemy – We’ll Live and Die in these Towns

Posted by Bricking Chick on 17th October 2007 at 7:50 pm | comments (13)
File under bandwagon jumpers,Gig Reviews,major label wannabes,manufactured rubbish,mp3,Reviews,shitty NME bands,utter tripe.