Who
Metronomy
Where
Birmingham O2 Institute
When
16th November 2019
Price
£24.25
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the back
Comments
I believe this was the third time I'd seen Metronomy, after catching a bit of them at Field Day back in 2012, then a full set supporting Blur at Hyde Park in 2015. This was my first time paying money specially to watch them though, making a nice complement to Hot Chip and making it five gigs in a month after nine preceding months offering no concert pleasures besides Kraftwerk at Bluedot Festival and British Sea Power in Wolves. It was just nine days after watching Half Man Half Biscuit also and I spent the day of the show writing up my review for that, and I purchased my Metronomy ticket months in advance also. It was originally advertised as being a 10pm curfew but I later got an email moving it to normal times, with the door opening time also moving back 30 minutes to 7pm. As this was my quietest weekend in a while I am writing up this review the very next day, also being conscious that I am heading to London just seven days after this show to watch The Supernaturals live for my first time since 2001! In the few days before this show I stepped up my efforts and heard through my favourite Metronomy songs a few times, taking a particular shine to The Look as well as becoming quite familiar with their catchy and more recent live set after two blasts through my recording of their Glastonbury 2017 setlist. The night before I ventured into Coventry after work to see a light projection show at the beautiful old cathedral and used this time to listen to Metronomy, as well as hearing it all over again on my way to this show. On the day I stayed in and got my hair cut, spying a completely random signed and dedicated artwork from Gary Numan inside the local barbers! After watching a new episode of Family Guy and eating tea I then drove to Wolves and parked my car at work.

Annoyingly there was a rail strike, although after their shambolic performance the day before it was unsurprising that the service was actually better, although some stations weren't being served and I do think that they should fire the overpaid and ungrateful shits who dare to strike after weeks of appalling service. They can fuck right off! I purchased a basic 50p energy drink plus some unnecessary Twist bites before jumping on the train at Wolves, lamenting the fact that the much-heralded Orange Twirl seems to be completely unavailable, as it is a massive failure of capitalism when people want a product but are physically unable to get it! I heard rumours that you can't even snap them up at Cadbury World, which would be completely ridiculous. No wonder some people think it's a viral joke and that they don't even fucking exist! I spent the train journey writing up my pre-gig notes on my phone and catching up on my internet, and as I hadn't been able to find the showtimes online I'd taken a risk and decided to arrive fairly late. I'd just missed the fast train so had to take the all-stopper, and it was a pretty cold day, but luckily it was now dry. After a few photos of the Birmingham Christmas Market, including a nice view of the festive tree in front of the Bullring Church, I dashed to the venue, feeling more confident that I hadn't missed out as people were still queuing to get inside. After a quick search I headed upstairs and popped to the loos, but I'd timed my arrival precisely with the exodus after the support band and so there was quite the queue, exacerbated by the lack of urinals. I then got inside the main room and it was already rather busy, but the advantage of being late was that I didn't have to invest time reviewing the support band! I had forgotten that the Institute also had quite a bit of overhanging balcony, but I gradually moved in at the back from the right until I had a reasonable view, although I did wish I'd chosen to be in the seats again, as there seemed to be some space up there.

The downside of winter gigs is the need to wrap up warm, and my thick coat was again an annoyance, also because I needed to guard my iPod and camera as well as my phone. Until they have phones with sufficient space to store my full music collection and adequate battery power to last for days I stand by my decision to stick with separate hardware! The roadies were setting things up and uncovered Metronomy's equipment, and I wrongly thought that the "Anna Forever" signature on the drum kit was left over from the support band, but once I saw the guys on Jools Holland the day after I realised that this was part of their current live setup. Metronomy came onstage promptly at 9pm, not that I knew when they'd be starting, and it was certainly good to know that my late arrival hadn't affected anything negatively! They opened with Lately, which was a nice slow burner that I was slightly familiar with, before ramping things up with The Bay. It's one of my faves and I shot a video, capturing people bobbing around and a great singalong as I zoomed in on the band. They played the catchy new song Wedding Bells, although it sounded like they are singing Windmills to me! The singer Joseph unusually chose to say Birmingham the American way, and declared that this was the last night of their tour, and he was certainly a positive and charismatic presence. I shot my second video for the glorious electronic number Corinne, which I'd quickly become familiar with from my two blasts through their Glastonbury setlist, and the drummer contributed her lovely vocals from the back during Everything Goes My Way, which is another insanely catchy tune that I already appreciated on this, just my third ever listen to it!

Reservoir strangely appeared quite early on and was played faithfully, by contrast with the hurried rendition that Glastonbury 2017 had got to hear as their finale. They were doing quite the Franz Ferdinand by front-loading their set with the hits, and I shot a third video, and by now the twat in front of me was really getting in my way, as well as in the path of my footage. Joseph had dumped the guitar for this one and I recorded it through the verse and that brilliant electronica, struggling to achieve a decent view without breaking my principles by holding my camera above my head. Now I just wasn't in the mood for moshing and really wasn't feeling being in such a busy crowd, and a guy to my right was very annoying, constantly nudging me as he moved around (he may call it dancing) with no consideration for anyone else. However once I moved away from him the other guy in front seemed to grow by a foot, and just when I thought I'd achieved a decent view he actually had the fucking nerve to put his arms behind his head and leave them there! I wanted to scream but how can you reason with someone who could do something that is so obviously inconsiderate and without the slightest thought for anyone behind him? It also made me wonder how short people cope at gigs, as I'm pretty tall but I still struggle sometimes. You'd think that shorties would have the wisdom to book in the seats and avoid this stress? The crowd were going mad and moshing to what felt like random songs, and after not going crazy for Reservoir I certainly wasn't going to get moving for unknown b-sides! It was good to be behind most of the rough and tumble, and I'd even witnessed just the one rogue pint flying through the air just before Metronomy came onstage.

The Nigerian bassist Olugbenga Adelekan contributed his much-appreciated backing vocals during Old Skool after a hiccup where his guitar became unplugged, and during one tune the others vacated the stage, leading to a magical moment where the two keyboardists glided across the stage with their equipment and one leaned over to make some notes on the opposing keys! I think I caught a reference to one of these two guys being ill before the show, and in total there are five members of Metronomy, and astonishingly they were now on their sixth album. Third album The English Riviera had put them on the radar back in 2011 and had The Bay on, but Reservoir was on the follow-up and for me this remains their high point. I also recognised and enjoyed I'm Aquarius, as well as a crazy-catchy newbie called Salted Caramel Ice Cream. It seemed clear that this wasn't destined to be the longest of sets as Metronomy teased that they were on their last song, and the best possible way to end would have been with The Look! I shot another video here, capturing fans jumping around and singing, and Joseph was now reunited with his guitar. The Look was perhaps my highlight of the evening, although Love Letters was also a beautifully fast singalong. Metronomy made a reference to the forthcoming election and finished their main set with Sex Emoji, which I didn't know. As I couldn't think of any more tunes that I wanted to hear I turned around and made my way for the back. Even right at the rear of the room there was still an excellent view albeit with the balcony obscuring it somewhat, and I decided not to push my luck and to leave and catch the earlier train.

There was a gap between services and I'd realised that I could get back pretty much a full hour earlier if I left sharpish, and it really felt like the set was finishing up too. I figured that Metronomy were a band who didn't do phoney encores? Being well aware how appalling and slow it could be to vacate the Institute I dashed out the moment Sex Emoji finished, which is most unlike me but I felt that I was quite pushing my luck enough, and had been rather late back the night before due to the incompetence of the railways already. I had no problems at all getting on the train, although just like for the outward trip it was strangely full of discarded litter. I texted the notes to myself that make up the basis of this review, which I'm relieved to have found the time to write up the very next day (Sunday). Apparently they played a three song encore of Upset My Girlfriend, Radio Ladio and You Could Easily Have Me, but the last song was the only one I knew of these, and I barely knew it in any case. I think the show would still have been wrapped up well before the 11pm curfew but I hadn't missed anything important so I wasn't too fussed. There were some loud twats on the train and it took ages and stopped everywhere, but I actually got home at a reasonable time, which was much appreciated! I do fear I wasn't as up for it as I should have been but Metronomy didn't do themselves any favours with a complete lack of an interesting stage show, and they were much more endearing outdoors in a festival setting. This is why I can't countenance a higher rating for this show. A nice backdrop and a few more gimmicks would have helped the performance greatly. I'm glad to have enhanced my appreciation for Metronomy a bit though, and they were extremely crowd-pleasing, although it would have been nice if they'd played Night Owl too. My strong end to 2019 continued!
Setlist
Lately
The Bay
Wedding Bells
Corinne
Whitsand Bay
Everything Goes My Way
She Wants
Reservoir
Walking In The Dark
Boy Racers
Lying Low
Old Skool
Insecurity
I'm Aquarius
The End Of You Too
Salted Caramel Ice Cream
The Look
Love Letters
Sex Emoji
And the songs I missed -
Upset My Girlfriend
Radio Ladio
You Could Easily Have Me

Mark: 7.0/10