GIG NUMBER SEVENTY-SEVEN
Who
However, the real event that made me doubt my impulsive decision to go to this gig was learning that Feargal Sharkey was no longer in the band. This really got to me and I just feel like it's false advertising: imagine going to see "The Beach Boys" and finding out the reality is a "Mike Love & Friends" show, as is sadly the reality! They might have the right to perform under the band name, but it is misleading fans and feels like deception. I've said it before and I said it at the gig - as far as I'm concerned Feargal Sharkey IS The Undertones and I'd had felt happier seeing him as the only original member rather than all the band except him, which is what we got. That's probably a bit extreme especially considering Feargal didn't write the songs but I'm sure for most people the defining feature of The Undertones is his face on the Teenage Kicks video and that lovely shimmering voice. Despite my reservations I still made an effort to learn the songs and get into them in time for the night, and just hoped that their new lead singer was OK. As the crowd were quite slow to build up I had two pints and a JD and Coke to warm myself up before heading into the room.
I heard a very interesting mix of the vocals from The Way You Make Me Feel by Michael Jackson and the music of Day Tripper by The Beatles before support act Give A Man A Kick came on. It took me a while to register that they were a band and not just roadies as they just seemed to be a couple of guys going around and randomly playing the instruments on offer. I then managed to get into it a bit and can give them some praise as one of them got down into the crowd and went round persuading us to clap along. There was also a memorable moment towards the end when they just seemed to be shouting random stuff at us a capella and they told us a story I now have no memory of. This is the point where I wish I'd wrote this review at the time so remember what happened but I am able to confirm that Give A Man A Kick held my attention fairly efficiently for their whole slot, which is more than many support acts can ever dream of. I then moved my way forwards and felt slightly gutted to see one of my Maths lecturers hanging around. Suddenly the night felt a lot less cool. Sure he was a fairly young guy, but a lecturer is still a lecturer!
After The Undertones came on the first highlight was the excellent Jimmy Jimmy. Most of my attention early in the show was taken up with scrutinising the singer. His presence was generally annoying as he was an unwelcome replacement for Feargal and acting as a brash and confident frontman only irritated me. He just looked like a middle aged sweating man prancing around slightly embarrassingly. I know this is a harsh assessment - particularly as he nailed the voice as much as you could had expected - but the indelible image of Sharkey just wouldn't leave my head. It took a while for me to warm up and get into it and ignore the singer but while I was standing there it was difficult to avoid such critical scrutiny. Teenage Kicks was played fairly early and I broke into the small crowd at the front who were moshing and enjoyed the song. It seemed a bit mean of them to play their greatest moment so early in the set with no pomp or any reference to the great John Peel (and before we had time to warm up too) but I made my best efforts to get into it and enjoyed myself. It also got the crowd going so when My Perfect Cousin came along we relished another moshing opportunity and its reception was equal to that of Kicks.
The delivery of the rest of the back catalogue was highly effective, and succeeded in making me rate more of these songs than I had done at the start of the night. Tunes such as There Goes Norman, Here Comes The Summer, (She's A) Runaround and particularly the brilliant Get Over You all sunk in as classics. A few months after the show something clicked and I decided You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?) was a golden great as well. Bittersweet was a lovely moment and the only omission of the night was When Saturday Comes. Wednesday Week was also revealed to be a top drawer pop song and the band told us it had been a top 10 hit in the week when Top Of The Pops was on strike! I must give top marks for the rest of the band. I had no complaints about the quality of their playing and they all looked impressively young and cool, except the aforementioned singer and also the drummer who it was later revealed is not their usual guy (I presume the band were kidding when they said he'd been called up to Iraq?!). One of them was wearing sunglasses and got away with it (no mean feat!) and their guitarist and main songwriter was a commanding presence and clearly the leader of the band.
There were quite a few tunes I didn't know including some new ones, the most impressive unknown one was definitely Jump Boys which was very catchy and really got everyone going. There was a brief introduction of the band towards the end and I barely resisted moshing to glorious sing-along Male Model before Mars Bars (what an advert!) got me in the pit for the fourth time (Get Over You had got me going earlier as well). The audience were a mix of old timers and a large crowd of younger people like me. This diverse and contemporary crowd prevented this show from being a typical "nostalgia" tour which this could so easily have been. Mars Bars proved to be the final tune of the evening (a particularly entertaining shout of "NO!" to the line about people who "still eat Twix" was one of the most satisfying moments of the night) and it was a good place to end. As the show had gone on and I managed to get into the music and enjoy the coolness of the rest of the band, I had been able to draw my attention away from the obnoxious singer and had started to enjoy myself. It wasn't an amazing gig but it was good enough to justify going out and is another impressive set I can add to my cannon. The Undertones had managed to prove that they are a great pop band with several songs that deserve to go down as all-time classics. That was quite enough for me.
Mark: 7.5/10
The Undertones
Support
Give A Man A Kick
Where
Manchester Debating Hall
When
7th October 2005
Price
£15.00
Who with
No-one
Position
Towards the front
Comments
No doubt Teenage Kicks is the catalyst for most people to get into The Undertones and I think that's quite understandable. It's one of those songs you listen to which you just know is utterly great beyond any argument and anyone who might try and claim otherwise can just be dismissed as a tone deaf musical fool. However, it was another song My Perfect Cousin which motivated me to go the extra mile and get into them. I must give thanks to SFA for including this tune as the second track on their Under The Influence compilation and after a few listens I really started to think that this band may have something and be more than one hit wonders. I then saw a gig advertised and decided immediately to buy tickets and soon got their greatest hits album to ensure I had the knowledge to enjoy the show. A few other tracks - such as Wednesday Week, Male Model, Jimmy Jimmy and Mars Bars - got my attention but as much as I enjoyed them it was difficult to do anything except compare them unfavourably with the perfection of Teenage Kicks.
