NME Awards Tour @ The O2 Academy, Newcastle [Review]

Last night Adam (from the A-Go-Go blog to your right) told me about this gig: £15, four bands, two of which were Bombay Bicycle Club and the The Maccabees, of course I was going. The fact that it was in two hours and only balcony tickets were available meant nothing.

The Drums - An energetic and charismatic bunch from New York. You'll find their sound has the substance of The Joy Division with the poppy explosiveness of Franz Ferdinand. It is a beautiful mix that can only result in growing popularity that I am sure this tour will give them. Expect big things from them in the future. It was their first trip to the UK for the four-piece, and they definitely made a good impression, playing with an energy that was not replicated for the rest of the night. Such energy in fact that they broke their tambourine. (http://www.myspace.com/thedrumsforever)

The Big Pink - This was not as good, definitely a come down, I could not get into it at all. Electro-rock is brilliant when done right, and these guys just didn't seem to hit the right note. I thought the crowd agreed with me, because I did not see a single person move beyond maybe some bored foot-taps every so often - then that changed when The Big Pink played "Dominoes" (yes, that song from the X-Box 360 advert). I did not realise that was their song, and I bet few people in the room did either because everyone seem surprised and suddenly went chaotic at the sound of "...these girls fall like dominoes!" Just shows you, one easily-recognised song could make you. (http://www.myspace.com/musicfromthebigpink)

Bombay Bicycle Club - Haven't heard from these in quite a while. For those who don't know them, they're an indie band from North London, and are probably most famous for opening the V Festival in 2006. They put on a really good performance, I forgot they were that good. They even played "Open House" which made me very happy indeed. I encourage everyone to check these guys out as well, they deserve to get big someday because they really do work their arses off for the crowd. Everyone appreciated it too, even after ten songs they were begging for me. (http://www.myspace.com/bombaybicycleclub)

The Maccabees - You've probably heard of these, but if not they're a five-piece indie band, also from London, and these were the guys that were closing the show. From the word 'Go' the crowd was shithot for them, it wasn't even funny. An annoying woman in front of us kept getting up to dance only to be told to sit down by the bouncer, but she just got up again anyway. I haven't taken the time to listen to these in quite some time, I haven't even got the album they released last year, but after this I wonder why because they were very good. The played some of the stuff I recognised, like "Precious Time" and "X Ray". In the encore did a faster and more awesome cover of "Rip It Up" by Orange Juice, which was an excellent way to finish the show. (http://www.myspace.com/themaccabees)

All in all, a really good show, glad I went instead of drinking in/out of the house.