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Morning Runner got the short end of the stick tonight. Coming onstage at a preposterously early hour ensures that there is a mere handful in the venue to see them. Their combination of jaunty, galloping hooks, occasional bouts of furious guitar noise, and judicious use of a piano sums up images of the Pixies hooking up with the Supernaturals to throttle Keane into submission. Tasty stuff, and worth checking out.
No such empty room though for Nine Black Alps. Barely anyone here has seen them live before, and only a handful own the one single released so far, but there is nevertheless a tangible sense of expectation. Given that they only formed about five minutes ago, are still setting up their own gear despite a major label record deal with Island, and have been touted by pretty much everybody as 2005's Next Big Enchilada, this is remarkable - and, as it turns out, utterly justified.
They barrel through nine songs, opening with the blisteringly quick, blink-and-you'll-miss-it first single 'Cosmopolitan'. They career through 'Not Everyone', 'Get Your Guns', and a thundering 'Over The Ocean', where the filthy riffing of guitarist David Jones and the raucous Cobain-esque vocal of singer Sam Forrest come off as Sonic Youth's '100%' meeting Ash's 'Kung Fu'. 'Unsatisfied' sounds like the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Nirvana all rolled into one, and is superb, with a needling riff high up the frets. The Ramones, Wire, and the Pixies are all in there too on 'Ilara Song', 'Just Friends' and 'Ironside', and while they occasionally lurch into Jet territory, they immediately lurch straight back into Superchunk, which, to be honest, you just can't fault. Final song and next single 'Shot Down' damn near blisters the walls off and they're gone. Phew. Okay, there's a long way to go for these boys yet, but on tonight's form, they'll not just be able to reach the summit of rock's mountain, but knock the whole damn thing down.
The 22-20s have a lot of work to do to make sure they don't get upstaged, and with the opening salvo of 'Weight Off Me', 'Got Messed Up' and current single 'Such A Fool', played at head-splitting volume, they pretty much carry it off. They thunder, they chug, there is a lot of hair on stage, and the keyboard player is sporting a very nifty hat. They sound a lot like the Kings Of Leon in a really foul mood. Previous reports have moaned about lack of invention and sludgy sound, but tonight is tight, razor-sharp and entertainingly sporty, with that trademark hint o' blues always to the fore.
The only shame is that there is no new material on offer tonight, which wouldn't be too much to ask for, given that the album has now had four singles taken from it, and has been out since last summer. That said, it's always good to hear earlier tracks like 'Baby You're Not In Love' and 'King Bee', and these two make up a fan-pleasing encore.
All three bands on show tonight offer a genuinely different alternative to 2004's Franz / Libertines axis, as well as proving that 2005 is already shaping up very nicely indeed for British music. But in the big fight for rock glory, Nine Black Alps take tonight's bout on points - if they keep it up, they'll be challenging for the title by the end of the year.
