With the crowd having stood through a lacklustre performance by tonight’s support Alfie and a stupidly long band changeover (the best part of 45 minutes), as slow keyboard chords commence, it would be fair to wonder if ATHLETE could make this sell-out Student’s Union come alive. By the soaring chorus of the opener tonight, it is obvious, the answer is in the song itself- “this is beautiful, we’ve got to soak it up” ("Beautiful"), you really couldn’t put it any better.
Some critics doomed the band to failure- it’s not as if good music sells much anymore, but Athlete are a band who have benefited greatly from a major marketing campaign. TV adverts and consistent mainstream radio airplay have brought their debut album “Vehicles & Animals” to the mass market’s ears, turning into record sales and chart places, something that most bands can only dream of. However their success is not the result of superficial spin and for those unfamiliar to “Vehicles & Animals” (where have you been for the last 3 months?!) it is perhaps best to describe it as a modern “Pet Sounds”. Though based in the art of high quality songwriting, it brims with exciting and fresh, up to the minute, production.
Tonight translates those songs to the stage and it is done with style and panache, more thought seems to have gone into the light show this evening than most bands put into whole albums. The old fashioned values are prevalent, because we all need a chorus to sing along to, and the crowd are in good voice this evening joining in for the vast majority. Athlete are not that straight-forward though, primarily based as a collective in a London studio, they owe as much in method to the UK urban scene as in style to their no doubt eclectic record collections. As toy pianos tinkle over crashing techno beats at the close of “One Million” it’s a sign of the times, and this band are very much with them.
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Though Joel Pott leads the proceedings from his guitar, his simple yet effective vocals are complimented by harmonious input from the other members. No contribution alone is what makes the songs so wonderful though, be it crackling drums or bubbling keyboards, it becomes obvious that the band is greater than the sum of its co-writing parts. Everyone has their favourites tonight, be it the cracking singles “El Salvador” and “Westside” or the stripped down “Vehicles and Animals”. Comparisons could easily be drawn to Gomez, even at points Mercury Rev or the Flaming Lips, but really there is no one quite like them.
The future looks bright then, with America beckoning and the new material (“Tourist” and “Eyes” on display tonight) promising something more melancholy but no less charming. Best to book your tickets for the intimate venues soon, because this compelling band will be getting much bigger.
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