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Incongruous guitar/drum action comes next in the truculent form of That Fucking Tank who strip to their pants, put on animal-themed headgear, and proceed to flay the assembled indie kids to within inches of their lives with avant-garde riff-rock. The whiff of novelty is beginning to hang around Yes Boss – the urban group for people who don’t like urban music. Despite Noah’s piss-take of desperate scenesters in 'Get Dropped Quick', Yes Boss seem happy enough to play to a crowd with “no black faces”. Though their knowledge of Grime and Hip-Hop is unquestionable, there’s a gap between what they aspire to achieve and what they actually manage. Ultimately, when there are better MCs and better beat-makers out there, Yes Boss seem surplus to requirements.
An indifferent crowd reaction greets Duels: I suspect that they are too staid and unadventurous for ¡FR! fans. Professional but soulless Britpop – well-oiled and aimed firmly at the charts – is not enough for an audience who expect surprises and precarious thrills. iLiKETRAiNS, on the other hand, provoke something close to reverence, and deserve it. They create dark, swirling elegies to history’s heroes and forgotten figures alike: Scott of the Antarctic is mourned in 'Terra Nova'; psychological terrorist and ferocious anti-Semite Bobby Fischer is both lambasted in 'Citizen' and empathised with in 'A Rook House For Bobby'; the only British Prime Minister ever to be assassinated is remembered in new song 'Spencer Percival'.
Every song ends in a wall of sound, Dave and Guy thrashing violently at their guitars whilst Simon and Alistair hold the sound together. Ashley even attempts some unlikely crowd-surfing with his cornet, a silly and surreal finalé which underlines how deeply serious iLT aren’t.
The heroes of the hour are, of course, ¡Forward, Russia! and tonight rules a line underneath the first chapter of what is promising to be a fascinating career. The album, 'Give Me A Wall' nails these songs down in a way that few debut records manage. It gets them out of the way, and leaves the path clear for ¡FR! to move onwards and upwards. Tonight’s performance is just for emphasis, a victory lap if you like, taking in all the singles and album highlights, and throws in a new song for good measure. The first UK airing for 'Don’t Be A Doctor' is important for the band because it highlights the way forward. The fans won’t be looking for a huge change of direction with the next record, but rather a development of the sound that they have created. 'Don’t Be A Doctor' does just that – a big, brash, circular thing which goes round and round with ever-increasing ferocity. Even the fact that they’ve given the song a proper title says, “We’re moving on”, and challenges us to stay with them. They have set the stage for many years of this thrilling, messy drama to come.
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