GIG NUMBER ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-SIX
Who
My brother purchased the second album - An End Has A Start - to accompany my borrowed copy of The Back Room along with the many, many live versions I'd gradually accumulated over the years and I heard through them as often as I could, reminding myself that Editors may be a very competent band with a clutch of decent songs but they're bloody hard work to truly love and aren't a patch on Joy Division, who presumably they worship. Yes, Editors are yet another English band I was seeing, and I don't even remember buying standing tickets - as I'm sure we considered sitting down - but presumably force of habit or a forgotten conversation led me to choose standing. I experienced a very busy day at work then had time to quickly head home and get changed then out again, choosing to travel with no iPod or camera to be as lightly burdened as possible. Popping home proved an excellent decision as it was a bloody hot day and any opportunity for a change of clothes was very greatly appreciated, plus I chose to change into my Achtung Bono Half Man Half Biscuit t-shirt, not that I can say I thought too hard about it! I got the train into Birmingham and despite my leisurely trip I still had to wait around for my brother to turn up, spending the time in McDonalds with a well-earned Chicken Selects meal. The next part of the plan was scuppered as they'd bloody managed to run out of ice cream, and to compound the agony my phone camera decided it no longer wanted to take any photos, throwing up random error messages as I tried to shoot the Bullring church which was bathed beautifully in light. I was now wishing I'd just gone with the real camera, although I did manage to make it work and afterwards - with some effort - managed to extract the photos off it too.
We ventured towards Burger King for a Burger King McFlurry and the attendant mumbled something about being out of the one we wanted, saying they'd only got a couple in stock. His attitude was very much one of "are you sure you actually want this one" but I eagerly said yes, by now desperate for any fix of ice cream, and was utterly disgusted to be presented with the smallest, nastiest tub I'd ever seen in my life, which basically consisted of a biscuity base, bitty fruity middle with a creamy-not-real-ice-cream topping. And this agony was compounded upon being told that this diabolical dessert cost one pound fucking forty! It was literally a quarter of the size of a McFlurry and it wasn't even refreshing due to all the unnecessary bits in it. This was the point where I should just have walked out in disgust but as I pride myself on not being an awkward douchebag customer I paid up, noting that I must never, ever again in my life return to the shithole that is Burger King. We hung around outside and my brother somehow got roped into wheeling around some silly lady in a motorised wheelchair who claimed to be unable to cope with the slope, but perhaps should have thought of that before venturing out by herself onto the only hill in Birmingham? With this double whammy of disappointment out of the way we now made our way towards the venue, and I found I'd remembered the route correctly from my last visit for Miles Kane. By now I was repeating to myself that the money saved in not having a pub tea more than made up for that shocking ice cream, but perhaps I should have utilised the instant happy thought that I'd be seeing The Stone Roses in just four days time instead! The doors had opened at 7pm and we made our way in by 8pm, which was pretty good in the circumstances, passing I believe the same bloody hobo who I remember had been harassing everyone outside Miles Kane before being ticked off by a bouncer. There were touts outside as well but we quickly headed inside.
On the ground floor they were selling some rather cool t-shirts and there were also some badges lying around near an unattended mailing list, but not knowing what the deal was and reminding myself that badges ultimately serve no useful function I resisted them and we headed upstairs. I had a very brief look in the outside bar, which was enough to convince me that this place was as nice as I remembered, before we headed inside the main venue. There was an entrance from both the left and right side of the room, which was strange as I only remember the left side one from before, and although being fairly busy it wasn't too crowded. As the evening went on the room filled up reasonably but never to the bursting point that it had been for Miles Kane, implying that the show wasn't quite a sell-out. It's shameful really that a Birmingham group can't sell out two gigs in front of their home crowd, whereas "no hits" Paramore can somehow can play the NEC, but the positive side is that it leaves room for people like me to come along and check them out without having to make a significant effort. When we walked inside the first band Free School were very near the end of the set, which was a shame as they were wearing masks and making what seemed to be an enjoyable and well-received noise. I believe they may have been manning the CD store on the way out as well but it made me wish we'd got there that little bit earlier. Once they vacated the stage we moved inwards from the right, sticking close to the back but making sure we were well away from the overhang of the balcony. In fact we would have stood at the very back but the few people standing in front of the mixing desk managed to spread themselves out to make it clear that they weren't going to let anyone else in!
It was amazing to see how small and compact the room was but more impressive was the fact it was so beautifully air conditioned, and even in the heat of the main act it remained perfectly acceptable, albeit a little sweaty. No review can pass without a dig at the Birmingham Academy - both old and new - so at this point I'm obliged to point out how much better this room is! Unfortunately after settling on our spot literally the tallest guy in the entire fucking world decided to stand in front of me! He genuinely must have been seven foot tall, and his mate was a good few inches taller than me as well! I've long thought that I am cursed in this regard and have no idea how short people can bear the frustration, and the agony was compounded further as he seemed much more intent on chatting to his mate and drinking his beer than watching the band anyway. We gradually edged left to try and avoid him but sadly my view was pretty much obscured for the rest of the evening. The second support band Peace seemed rather good and their set certainly didn't drag at all, however even though I was quite on the ball in writing up these notes they faded from my memory immediately and I could not say a single thing about them except that they were fairly conventional. Apparently the support bands had been handpicked from the local area and I just wish we'd managed to see Free School as well, as they certainly looked much more interesting. At this point I should state that the crowd were quite a mix, with a few older fans in the balcony along with some kids hanging about as well. There is little else to say about the build-up as either there was no DJing or it was so quiet/anonymous that we didn't even notice it.
Amazingly people were still managing to leave the crowd for more beers and to get back in right up until show time, and naturally some tossers were throwing their beer around too, but thankfully not in my direction. After a moderate length of time setting up their equipment, Editors came onstage very promptly at 9pm as expected and launched into a completely unknown song called Sugar, which I presume to be a newbie. It was a suitable opener and went down perfectly well but we were all much more excited to hear The Racing Rats, which was sharply followed by the utterly excellent Bullets, or the "you don't need this disease" song as I remember it. This ridiculously strong start continued with an epic take on Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors, which was more powerful than I'd predicted, and I joked that it would be nice if they'd play some hits! The pace was then slowed down with a chilled-out version of Fall, which I can now see is actually from their debut album. After another new tune - The Sting - the band returned to top gear again with Blood, and it was wonderful to see their "miserable" style didn't translate to a surly setlist or a refusal to play their hits! The show was reasonably atmospheric with some pretty - albeit quite basic - lights and the sounds quality was excellent throughout, which is an advantage of standing in front of the mixing desk. Besides a shout-out for Birmingham there was very little conversation of note and I took quite a few photos, most of which didn't turn out too brilliantly.
Tom was sporting a ponytail and alternated between standing up with his guitar and sitting down in front of keyboards whilst the rest of the band faded into the background, so much so I'm not quite sure how many there were. I counted four members but Wikipedia claimed there to be five? The hits continued relentlessly with All Sparks and by this point they'd clearly done a Franz, bombarding us with so many hits early on that we were left a little overwhelmed and it made the second half drag quite a bit. Nevertheless the good songs continued with Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool which I had only heard live versions of but still enjoyed very much, and after a slight lull they hit top gear again with An End Has A Start. Throughout this we were clapping and singing along as much as our knowledge of the songs permitted and I was in little doubt that these were the Editors at the peak of their powers, which is fine for one viewing but I just can't ever see myself loving them or desperately wanting to listen to one of their songs. At one point there seemed to be some kind of incident to our right, with a guy passing by us before being trailed by security, but we never figured out what was up, and it was nice to see security weren't investing all their efforts in forcing the balcony to remain seated as they'd done before, although interestingly enough I didn't see anyone try to stand up anyway. As the show wore on we gradually edged back before realising that the people behind us had vanished entirely and that we were free to lean against the barriers, making this probably the first show I'd ever stood right at the back for.
This worked out quite nicely though as we were getting a bit hot and lethargic, most likely due to the early barrage of hits, and the room was so small that even at the back you had an excellent vantage point. The main set finished in a low-key manner with unknown song Nothing which I can't claim to remember, before the band returned to the stage with In This Light And On This Evening, which I took to be a random b-side but apparently is the opening song on their third album. This was followed up with their most notable hit Munich, which I was reasonably sure they hadn't done already but as their songs kind of merge into one I wouldn't have bet my life on it. A considerable moshpit developed to the right side of the front and the tallest guy in the world managed to find his way into my line of sight again, but the power of the tune was still present and correct. This was followed by another newbie - Two Hearted Spider - which was most unwelcome as the encore is really not the place to bombard us with songs we don't know! Apparently on Wednesday night they played exactly the same set except they started the encore with No Sound But The Wind, which is insane as I'd had thought they'd be more likely to take a hint and drop the unknown tunes, not play yet another one! It's a bit harsh to complain though as the show had been rock solid and there was just one more song I really wanted to hear, so their only crime was blowing a few too many hits too early in the night, which ultimately is far better than not playing them at all. And Editors certainly didn't disappoint as they closed their set as hoped for with Papillon, which is probably their finest tune and was greeted by several crowdsurfers, following one from earlier on who chose a completely random moment to go over the top.
The finale sorely lacked the laser lights that had made the song so memorable on the festival circuit but I guess it's just too expensive for an indoor showing, and the drawn-out ending and bout of clapping was sufficient to make this the undisputed highlight of the evening. I've written down that the band finished with a group hug - which I can't actually remember - and they'd finished in excellent time for us to get our train home. Despite standing at the back it still took a while to get out as there was quite a bottleneck caused by the steps and I managed to lose my brother before we met up again outside. I spotted on the way out that there were even some chandeliers in the lobby and found time for a much-needed Coke as well. My ears were whistling and we were spoken at by a drunk guy on the train back, who had the audacity to claim that Tom Smith was the greatest singer ever and he'd been at the front, berating us for standing at the back. Although youthful enthusiasm isn't necessarily a bad thing and in some ways I do miss my less cynical days, being ignorant enough to believe Editors are the best thing since sliced bread is just ridiculous and can only be claimed by a complete moron or someone who hasn't seen the same quality of acts that I have! Don't get me wrong, Editors demonstrated that they had more notable songs than I'd expected and they played an outstanding setlist, showing it's possible to play everything yet still find room for loads of newbies, which is a lesson that so, so many bands could do with learning.
The ignorance of the drunk fan was further exposed by his claim that the Civic Hall was really small and I suggested that he was confused with the Wulfrun, but perhaps that's the final proof that he simply hasn't been to enough gigs, or alternately of my theory that music venues change shape and size every time you visit them! As far as omissions were concerned my first thought was that it would have been nice to hear You Don't Know Love, which is very impressive considering that it's a tune from their third album - albeit a single - and I'd only ever heard a live version. I racked my brain to think of anything else they'd left out and could only think of the insignificant Push Your Head Towards The Air, although apparently it was also a single. Speaking of which, the song I mentioned above which they only played on Wednesday night - No Sound But The Wind - is apparently a non-album single and to really blow my mind Wikipedia claims it was a number 1 hit in Belgium!! Although it is fascinating to learn about what songs Editors have released as singles I should really give myself a slap on the wrist for forgetting that they didn't play Lights, which is the opening track on their debut album thus would have been great to hear. It says everything about my priorities though that I was more excited to find a Stone Roses article left behind on the train than I had been by the Editors playing a near-definitive set, and it goes without saying that this show would be quickly overshadowed. It was fortunate that I wrote some fairly comprehensive notes before I forgot though - being particularly conscious that I'd failed completely to note down any details for the Field Day festival in early June. I also got my hand on their third album a couple of weeks later, but with The Stone Roses - and Blur too - dominating my listening it may be a while - if ever - before I really listen to it properly!
Mark: 7.5/10
Editors
Support
Peace
Free School
Where
Birmingham HMV Institute
When
26th June 2012
Price
£18.50
Who with
Alex
Position
Towards the back
Comments
Stone Roses. Stone Roses. Stone Roses. Stone Roses. Stone Roses. There really is only one way to start this review and that's by putting it in context, as this was just four days - or 96 hours - before The Stone Roses in Manchester. I had tickets for that months before I heard about this and I even chose to attend the Tuesday show - as opposed to Wednesday - to give myself an additional gap in between, plus of course in the idle hope that England could be playing in the Euro 2012 semi-final on the Wednesday night. I've always felt that Editors are worth seeing once but they're very much on the borderline, so when it was announced that these would be their only UK shows of 2012 and that it was in the relatively nice surroundings of the HMV Institute I felt this would be as good an opportunity as any. Also my brother was interested and it seemed unlikely I'd ever attend a festival they were playing at and I sort-of had a gap in my diary so the choice was pretty much made for me. In actual fact the Wednesday night show was announced first but I'm very pleased by the choice of this evening as it didn't appear to quite be a sell-out and it also meant that we would be the very first people to hear Editors newest songs. It looks like they quickly followed these two homecoming dates with performances in France and Belgium - and you do have a feeling that Editors are the kind of band to be appreciated in Europe - but as this was the first night it was clearly the one to be at, even if another homecoming show would quickly put this evening into perspective...
Setlist
Sugar
The Racing Rats
Bullets
Smokers Outside The Hospital Doors
Fall
The Sting
Blood
All Sparks
Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool
You Are Fading
The Weight Of The World
Bricks And Mortar
Bones
An End Has A Start
Fingers In The Factories
Nothing
In This Light And On This Evening
Munich
Two Hearted Spider
Papillon
