This well put together package tour is called the Dark Decadence tour which is in some ways quite laughable as what kind of dark decadence is it that has doors opening at 6pm and the first band on before 7pm in 24 hour London?
Well this one does and wanting to see all the bands meant showing up early and hanging with the Kids.And I do mean kids as I think it's safe to say that most of Crashdiets fans weren't even born when I first started seeing bands at the Electric Ballroom. The band's favourite subject matter of Teenage Rebellion probably accounts for their age demographic as they are now three albums and three singers into their career and current pretty boy singer Simon Cruz has the sort of Hair Sigue Sigue Sputnik used to sport.
They gave a very full on performance, opening with a Down With Dust that went full pelt into So Alive during which the crowd got going and I tried not to feel like a pervert looking at the young girls while they did the glam metal stomp so well.
Simon was less than polite about the band's management putting them on a three band bill and the short amount of stage time they had, which I can understand, but he could end up biting the hand that feeds him. Still everyone sang along to Breaking the Chainz and they of course finished with their best known anthem Generation Wild. It was a short, well played and action packed set, glad I finally got to see them.
They were followed by the band I most wanted to see again on this bill, Hardcore Superstar who were the second Swedish band of the night and they killed it from the opening moments of Sadistic Girls. They totally owned the place, everyone was up for it and they didn't hang around much at all as all there classics were rattled off from Dreaming in A Casket that is just a total hit to We Don't Celebrate Sundays.
Jocke and the boys were in top form and had the longest hair of the night. For me the best song of the set and the one that got the biggest sing-along was Last Call For Alcohol that being
played at around 8pm seemed a tad strange. I still love how Guest List nails that particular lifestyle. Another great set from them and as always they left me wanting to see them again.
|
That is more than can ever be said of The 69 Eyes as it is about the 4th or 5th time I've seen them and never through choice only as they are always on good bills with other bands I want to see.
This performance fitted in like that too. They opened with one of their best songs, Devils, but as ever the singer Jyrki comes across as a cross between Andrew Eldritch and Pete Steele while looking like a cross between Joey Ramone and Roy Orbison at an elvis convention. He managed to keep his leather jacket with tassles done up all gig and his dark glasses on for a good stretch of it. Misguided star syndrome has clearly kicked in.
Dead'n Gone sounded all right but there is something a little flat about them like they try too hard to be the next Cult or Sisters of Mercy and over emphasise just how dark they are on songs like Dance D'amour and Velvet touch. The playing is tighter than it has been and Jussi 69 is still one hell of a great and entertaining drummer to watch. But still something's missing, like the excitement the two other bands provided.
Never Say Die was about as good as they got and it had a good portion of the crowd singing along, more so than the laughable Perfect Skin. For a band as pale and unhealthy looking as this it is a tough sell so much so that at the end of the set they failed to get an encore and there seemed to be a rush to the doors which as it wasn't even 10pm seemed a touch harsh. But then they were the weakest of the three bands on the bill, so I guess them's the breaks.
|
