This is the first gig of the 'HMV's Next Big Thing' year long festival that I've got along to and it's is a Spinefarm records night. When we arrived to have some pasta at the restaurant opposite the Garage there was a healthy queue outside before the doors opened, which considering it was freezing out was impressive.
We got in just before THE TREATMENT went on first. They are managed by Lawrie Mansworth who some of you will remember from his time in Air Race, Mansworth/The Ice Mummies or managing Hurricane Party among others and The Treatment sound like one of his bands, rehearsed to within an inch of thier lives, tighter than a ducks arse old skool rock. The bass player looks like he needed permission to stay up late as they are a bunch of 18 year olds playing music that sounds like it came out in the 70's. I think they opened with Drink Fuck Fight and it sounded like a brawl between Slade and Status Quo to see who had the most impressive riffs.
The singer was ever so slightly hyper throughout and he totally launched the band into Shake The Mountain wherein the two guitarists and bassist do the full on heads down no nonsense mindless Boogie stomp all over it as he worked the hell out of the stage. He worked it like he ought to be on huge stages and having opened for Alice Cooper last year he may well have got used to the attention. The Doctor sounded like it could have been a Dr Feelgood out-take.
I Fear Nothing saw them amping up the Quo Quotient but without a doubt the now packed Garage was getting into it. When the singer introduced Nothing To Lose But Our Minds I was expecting something good and psychedelic but got some Psych Rock boogie instead. Still a good catchy song for all that. I wouldn't be at all surprised that Way Of The World was written by the band's manager as it had his stamp all over it. No bad thing as it had just enough paranoia to make it work and the singer really was doing everything he could to get the place going.
They finished off by covering what I think is Slade;s Get Down and Get With It: a song I could sing along to from the opening line and they did a good stomp all over it. Not sure how much of the next big thing they are in terms of originality, but they look like they are prepared to put in the leg work to turn them into a british equivalent of Airborne.
Next on after a short break were JETTBLACK who over the last couple of years have become a regular support act who always put in good performances and thankfully continue to get better every time I see them. The big question is now they have got what it takes to be a great headline act rather than the perpetual great support act they are.
Well they opened with a Get Your Hands Dirty that had most of the sold out crowd singing along and I certainly now recognise most of the songs they play. They are (as normal) good and tight and the two guitarists spend the entire set duelling and trying to outdo each other for the best solos and riffs. Slip It On was good and sleazy and saw the first signs of a mosh pit developing.
They introduced a new song that sounded as good as the old songs then Love Can Keep Me Awake had the salacious side of the band coming out and they did almost as much leering at the crowd as the other way round. Fooled By A Rose is still one of their best songs and really went down a treat with a bigger pit developing as well as a girl dancing on someone's shoulders. As you'd expect form a bunch of hard loving rock gods, Not Even Love is a song about making sure that Love Doesn't take control, but then they sort of have second thoughts on When It Comes To Love as the guitarists duke it out solo against solo.
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They finished with a slightly messy version of Two Hot Girls but seeing as those two hot girls may well have been there it could be they had the band all in a fluster. Either way this was a good tight set that went down very well indeed.
Finally, on came Headliners RECKLESS LOVE who are as cheesy as all hell and of course as tight a hairspray Metal band as any around at the moment. They opened with Animal Attraction with Ollie giving us the sort of pouts that get all the women going while Pepe supplies the riffs and nifty guitar solo. Speedin' is as amped up as this lot get and went by at a hell of a pace. They were in a hurry, which would be bad news for the Switchblade Babe that was up next but then this bunch of charmers would have her going weak at the knees in no time.
Ollie might claim he was Born To Break your Heart and many of the girls here would agree to let him try but this didn't sound as good as the last time we saw them and somehow they didn't look as comfortable as they have previously, at least not until they did the one song of there's I can't get out of my head -Hotter Than Hell - at which point some girl threw her knickers at Ollie, he picked them up had a sniff and placed them on the end of Jalle's bass! I think it was also during this song that a girl dancing on someone's shoulders Flashed the band which got some smiles from the stage.
Back To Paradise was OK but didn't break a sweat. Romance sounded as soppy and cheesy as a song like that could. On The Radio was one of the peaks of the set as they got everyone singing along to this very simple pop song and they were soon talking about the end of the show as they went into a bit of a sloppy version of Beautiful Bomb. It was almost like they had got bored and were ready to go home. At the end of the song Ollie went off but the band stayed on stage sort of getting the crowd going before Ollie was back and they did One More Time in a bit of a hurry and said good night.
Before they were even off the stage, about a third of the audience were out the door meaning there was no chance of a proper encore and to be honest they were not the strongest band on this bill and didn't help themselves by not playing any songs we didn't hear the last time they played a few months ago. I'd have to say I'd want to see them again only when they have some new material ready.
So who of this three might be the next big thing? Well I'd have to say either Jettblack or The Treatment! I know I'll get it in the neck from Jo for saying that but Reckless Love seemed to be having a bit of an off night.
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