When bands get big and famous, they tend to shun the grimy pubs and seedy back ally clubs. Instead of playing for a crowd of seven pissed old men who are more annoyed that you’re unsettling their darts night you elevated to superstar venues.
From playing horrible branded beer based academies, arenas and festivals, it’s a great milestone for any band, The Futurehead’s are no exception. After gigging around the North-East for to long, they finally got their spring bored to stardom with Hounds Of Love.
However, The Futureheads tonight played a very special and unique gig. In association with lovely tasting Gaymers cider and Channel 4, they aimed to take bands back to their hometown roots. And hecklerspray was there to see the band rekindle their love for Sunderland and play an intimate set for a handful of lucky competition winners.
What made the gig an automatic winner for us was the cost of the thing. Absolutely bloody nothing. We were quite jammy and won a pair of tickets for the band set. All we had to worry about was getting in and out of the murky town otherwise known as Sunderland.
Upon arrival the good old game of waiting in a queue started. And it seemed to go on and on. Never before have we stood chatting aimlessly before. But then again, it was for free, so we couldn’t complain too much. Finally, after Channel 4 stopped filming random people in the crowd for sound bites which will make them look like morons, the line of people slowly entered two by two in to the pub. The bouncers played Noah from the ark as they made sure we weren’t going to either film the gig or kill someone to death.
We also got some lovely free cider. Never a bad thing in anyone’s book. Now all we had to do was patiently wait for the nervous looking roadies, directors, cameramen and lighting bods to sort things out. All in this time we consumed more alcohol. Since there was no support band, it was up to beer and our imagination to entertain ourselves. It did the trick.
Soon, the band did hit the stage and went straight in to a furious rendition of Decent Days And Night. The crowd who seemed slightly timid before they started playing soon burst in to life. Probably to the disapproval of cameramen who didn’t want to be pushed and jostled around by cidered up youths. With this being a competition based gig there was a slight feeling that it wasn’t a gig for the people, and more for those lucky enough to be there. They did eventually warm up to the songs being played to them, a mix of the two old albums and the soon to be released third.
Of course, the cover version of Kate Bush’s classic got the loudest cry of the night. Is it a good thing or a bad omen to be known as that band that did a decent cover? Regardless of this, it seems that the band have locked themselves away and worked hard on this new record. The first single Beginning Of The Twist is an energetic number that has all the great makings of a successful song. A catchy tune and a sing able chorus is here, but what remains to be seen is how much press they can gain from this and future singles.
After being dropped from 679 records, the band decided to go it alone and do their own thing. Kind of like Radiohead and Elbow but not so much as a rebellion. It just means they have more freedom to do what they want, manage themselves and not have a businessman tell them what to do.
All of the band were totally up for it tonight. They truly put their heart and soul in to what they were doing. It’s not often you can play in your hometown and in a venue that is bloody tiny. With the new songs played, it defiantly seems The Futureheads are back with a record to make up for the slight slip up that was their second album.
This will be shown on Channel 4 in the near future, so more then likely you’ll see a gormless looking hecklerspray writer trying to look cool and trendy.
