Whenever someone refers to a footballer as “hard-working”, my brother always replies: “Hard work is the least you should expect”. Therefore it feels like I’m damning blue nation with faint praise to say they must be the most hard-working band around.
But for the second time in two Saturdays MV is here and they are on stage playing their usual classy brand of music. The new single “Time Is A Thief” – one of their best moments – is given a “jazz” ending, for no other reason than no two Blue Nation gigs are quite the same. To that end singer Neil changes the set onstage here, simply because, well why not, and that’s after his mum, “Pauline the Sandwich Queen”, makes an appearance on FaceTime.
The serious side to them, though, “Echoes” is still there, as anthemic as ever, preceded by bass player Luke with the usual moving speech. And it is really in his words that you can see how much this band means to them. The day before, they’d apparently played a festival, at which a member of the crowd had said “You could be tighter”. I don’t claim any musical talent, but I know when I’m watching an excellent band. “Down To The River” proves that, so thanks for your input, mate. Blue Nation are never off the road, but the hometown end-of-year show in December is one you do not want to miss – and that’s not a lie.
It must, have been a tough job for James Kennedy and the Underdogs to follow the local heroes, but if that was the case then it was a challenge that the South Wales mob were going to meet head-on.
A change in tone, as they arrive with the chanted “Make Anger Great Again” There is indeed that anger, there is skill, and there is a feeling that they would get any audience and simply grab them by the throat until they got on board.
The chorus to their opener rather sums them up: “Wake up or you get what you deserve” yells Kennedy – the former singer in Kyshera, whose t-shirt he sports tonight – but this new venture is perfect for 2024, with its punchy anger permeating the likes of “Ghosts” and “We Fight Dirty”.
Things get a bit slower – to be fair it’s the muggiest night in the world and like a sauna in The Giffard – for the groove of “Algorithm” and the near balladry of “Struggles” but somehow that only seems to give the likes of “The Power” even more resonance.
“You won’t know these songs” Kennedy had said. They did by the end.
Eastbourne’s (“It’s where people used to go to die” offers singer Ian) finest Amongst Liars are wrapping up their tour here – as they play their last song “Wolf Machine” guitarist Leo stands on the merch table and jumps off. It’s that kind of night. Sweaty, and raucous, the way it was supposed to be.
It acts too, as the last song on the just released “By Design”, their brilliant new record, but they don’t need me to tell them how good it is, they know. How can we tell? Well, the amount of new stuff they air from it.
They open with one, the anger-filled “You Are Not A Slave”, and – in the music at least – there is rage, just bubbling below the surface. it comes to the surface on “The Shameful”, which is dedicated to “ those awful bastards we’ve just voted out”
What is perhaps the most impressive thing, however, is that although they only released “…Design” a couple of weeks back, they’ve already moved on. There’s a new one “Story” which hasn’t been recorded yet, and it augers well for album three.
They dip back to the first song they ever wrote, “Over And Over” and another pair of older songs in the emotional “Drown” and “Cut It” – which is anchored by bass man Ross – to pepper the new stuff, of which the electronic-tinged title track is a proper highlight.
Which is where we started, with Leo on the table, and “….Machine” ends a 50 minutes or so which underlines what everyone who knows them knows: Amongst Liars are one of the most innovative and original bands in the underground right now. They are, well, amongst as it were, the best placed to make the step to the next level.
