Everything Everything Live At Sheffield Leadmill - Gig Review
rating:3.5
If you watch Radiohead's Live At The Astoria concert film, recorded before the release of The Bends, there are a few hilarious moments where Thom Yorke apologetically introduces such lukewarmly-received new songs as Fake Plastic Trees, Just and My Iron Lung. These songs, of course, would come to be centre-pieces to their first truly great album, and it's quite an amusing time capsule to see a crowd going mad for comparatively underwhelming songs from Pablo Honey whilst shrugging-off future classics as unknowns. The first time I saw Everything Everything was early last year in a small venue in Stoke, and though their set was loaded with material from their excellent debut, it seemed to be heavily weighted towards what were then new songs. Whilst road-testing new material, you're always in danger of alienating a crowd. Don't worry I'm not placing Everything Everything on a plinth through offering a direct Radiohead comparison. Nor am I building them up to be the saviours of music - be it pop or rock. ...or am I? The point is, I believe that leap in quality between Everything Everything's debut and their second album Arc released earlier this year is comparable to that which took place between Pablo Honey and The Bends. In retrospect, the crowd at last year's Stoke show who cheered for the familiar but clapped politely at the new were cut from the same cloth as the apparently bemused crowd at Radiohead's Astoria show. The difference is that whilst watching a Radiohead performance from 1994, the temptation is to skip the more forgettable Pablo Honey tracks. Vegetable? Ripcord? Pop Is Dead? Come on. But watch Everything Everything, and though it's becoming increasingly clear that the songs from Arc are vastly superior to the songs from Man Alive, it's still the case that the old and the new rub shoulders comfortably. I've seen many bands at a similar stage in their career, and even when I'm familiar with their newer material, I'm often impatient for them to get on with playing their more familiar songs. It's perhaps a testament to both their growth as a band and to the strength of their songwriting that Everything Everything are capable of putting on a show in which the progress between their two albums doesn't jar. The songs from Man Alive are quirky, infectious and restless; whilst the songs from Arc are more graceful, mature and refined. Throughout, though, their performance is never anything less than fun and energising. You can tell they're having a great time, and their joy is genuinely infectious. I do hope, though, that those who insisted on talking throughout the show enjoy the circle of hell that's being reserved for them as we speak an uncomfortably crowded place where they're forced, for an eternity, to give a vitally important speech; only to find that their words are drowned out by a rabble of inebriated morons who're talking in obnoxiously loud voices about nothing at all. I'm sure they felt that it was absolutely vital that they held their inconsequential conversations then and there, but I will never forgive them for rendering such majestic slow-burners as Duet, The Peaks and This House Is Dust all but inaudible. Why do people do that? Why pay £14 for a ticket only to talk throughout the whole show? Oh well. That's what happens when you go to a gig on a Saturday night in a venue that's set to become an indie club the second the band leave the stage. The majority of Everything Everything's set, though, is comprised of their more upbeat and structurally complex songs - played so loud that you can't hear the incessant chatter. Only last night did I learn that, despite being utterly electrifying, off-kilter rhythms make songs such as Kemosabe and Schoolin' really hard to dance to. Instead I had to settle for a series of jerky and jittery head nods. It definitely looks ridiculous, but when you're having this much fun, who cares? http://youtu.be/TKKMfJ8cZoQ Arc performed (and continues to perform) impressively well in the charts, and their singles are faring equally as well. Though it's foolish to think that sales count for anything, it's hard to ignore the fact that Everything Everything are playing in bigger venues than ever. Last year they opened for Snow Patrol and Muse, so they're already familiar with putting on the sort of performances that can fill the most cavernous of spaces and moments like the stately and addictive riff from Radiant seem tailor-made for the arena circuit. So Everything Everything put on an invigorating live show, their music shows tremendous promise and it really does appear as though people are noticing and engaging with their music on quite a large scale. The future might well be theirs, but even if they never breach the ceiling of the smaller-venues into the upper echelons of huge stages and headlining slots, at least we have a reliably fantastic live-act. But if you want to hear them, just make sure to see them in such circumstances that couldn't be considered a night-out for those who treat live performances as background music for their chatter. http://youtu.be/l4LP_WhyP0Q Setlist: _Arc_ Kemosabe Torso of the Week QWERTY Finger Final Form No Plan Choice Mountain Duet Schoolin' Photoshop Handsome The Peaks Suffragette Suffragette Cough Cough -------------- MY KZ, UR BF The House Is Dust Radiant Don't Try 3CNNRMJ5QGPM