GIG NUMBER FORTY-SIX
Who
And I've got to say I was quite impressed. Although the band later said that it was a bad gig with sound problems, it sounded decent enough to me although I saw from later performances that they could do much better. One of the tracks played ultimately made it onto the debut album and openers Music and Out Of The Box proved to be very strong b-sides. Although no one song stood out this time, it was a solid, professional show that was far better than most of the unknown guitar acts I'd seen. It was no surprise that The Open were the main draw on the night, even though it was largely family and friends. Reno himself had no vocal duties and spent much of the show concentrating very hard on doing the tunes correctly while largely facing sideways, and the band certainly rocked excellently both individually and as a unit. I congratulated him on a good performance and grabbed a setlist, realising this group had the potential to be big: a support with The Coral was already lined up and they'd also attended the NME awards! I was given a very nice open invitation to visit them in Liverpool and offered a demo, and felt this was a worthwhile night.
Mark: 7.0/10
The Open
Where
Manchester Night And Day Cafe
When
18th March 2003
Price
£3.00 (ish)
Who with
No-one (sort of)
Position
Seated, towards the front
Comments
My mate from school Reno had gone and started with a band and invited me along to this early gig of theirs. At this point I had no idea that they'd be going places so just took it as a nice little night out and a chance to catch up. It could have been a sell-out too but I managed to get in quite late due to a spot on an informal guest list. I never paid that much attention to the other bands on the bill but I recall that first on was some mediocre keyboard guy and second up were an OK group who waved their guitars at us in typical Spinal Tap fashion. I was mostly happy here to chat and quench my thirst a casual distance from the stage. My hanging out beforehand told me that Reno was the bassist and he'd helped out with the songs, although nothing was being taken too seriously yet and they were just having fun seeing where it went. He'd grown his hair rather long and fitted in very nicely with the required image already. I also chatted for a bit with the guitarist who I was impressed to hear was very up on Wolverhampton and my local villages having actually lived in one of them without meeting Reno before the band got together in Liverpool! The band name was The Open - a pretty decent one I thought. After a brief visit "backstage" (i.e. downstairs a bit past the toilets) and a few words with the singer, I decided to enjoy their set sitting down.
Setlist
Music
Out Of The Box
Coming Down
Let It Go
Can't Carry On
Goodbye
The View
