It wasn't so long ago that Jarrow's finest songsmiths were barely
troubling the claustrophobic shoebox that is Newcastle Academy's second
room. A year or two on from those halcyon days and with a sophomore
album under their collective belts, Little Comets are now packing out
the former Bingo Hall itself, drawing in delirious youngsters (and by
young, golly do we mean young) by the truckload and whipping every last
one of 'em into a frenzy with their unique brand of spiky kitchen sink
indie. And okay, so the venue isn't actually sold out tonight but with
the noise this lot make, and the mudhole stomped into the floor by the
end, you'd certainly be forgiven for thinking so.
In an inspired
move, support this evening comes in two equally delicious flavours:
first, soaring acoustic melancholia courtesy of South Shields' Natasha
Haws, whose all-too-brief five song set is a lesson in how to pull
heartstrings (mark our words, this girl will go far); second, hook-laden
pop rock from Northern Ireland's General Fiasco who mainly showcase
their latest release 'Unfaithfully Yours' (a real step up; buy it now,
kids) but offer a veritable treasure trove of killer riffs and
irresistible choruses ('Don't You Ever' and 'We Are The Foolish' are the
main highlights) that get the hands clapping and the feet... well, you
get the gist.
There's no mistaking the stars of tonight's soiree,
however, and as the obligatory clothesline is draped with the requisite
percussion instruments and the lights begin to dim, the atmosphere is
positively electric. The 75 minute Greatest Hits (and then some) that
follows is just about the perfect recipe to satisfy the rabid hordes,
careering from one gigantic indie pop gem to another, only occasionally
interrupted by lesser-known material from current record 'Life Is
Elsewhere'.
And if, at times, the new tracks sound a little
stifled, hinting perhaps that they could use a little bedding in,
they're few enough to be forgiven. Before long, we're recklessly
slamming into one another again as another 'In Search of Elusive...'
classic erupts or one of the more recent singles gets an airing. Indeed,
one of the night's foremost highlights is the delirium that greets
'Worry'; the corresponding singalong is almost enough to stun the band
into silence. And five minutes later, this actually happens as the crowd
bellow back the RIFF to 'One Night in October' and then engage in the
greatest hand-clap/woo-woo/bounce-bounce combination this side of a
Green Day concert during the frankly bonkers 'Dancing Song'.
Little
Comets are humbled by all of this; at show's end, they seem genuinely
stunned at the warmth of the reception, telling us that their 'silly
little songs' were written in bedrooms in Jarrow for their own amusement
and that they never expected that they would connect with so many. It's
a typically British, and perhaps North Eastern, trait, downplaying
one's talent, but it only increases the poignancy of the situation,
hammering home the fact that tonight is something particularly special.
The local boys done good, guys... now let's give 'em a hundred more
nights as memorable as this one.
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