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Chris Martin once said that the success of Coldplay shows that "Sometimes geeky kids can win". And when you think of a band with the nerdiest name ever, whose frontman Paul Mullen wears thick eyeglasses and him and the rest of band sip water – not alcohol – from their bottles in between songs, you think he might be right. But all thoughts of nerd fades when you hear opener ‘The Problem’, you just understand whoever is able to produce such a wall of sound or deliver such a great performance is definitely no geek. And despite thanking the audience politely with a: “thank you, you’re very kind”, the Newcastle five piece rock the Astoria like a horde of savages. After warming up the audience with new single ‘Rapt Dept’ and stepping into Hundred Reasons territory with ‘All Roads To Fault’, Yourcodenameis:milo treat us with ‘17’ and ‘The Dead French’, before closing their 45 minutes set with an incendiary performance of 'Schteeve'.
But the venue is packed with 900 souls for a reason: they’re all waiting for legendary headliners Presidents Of The United States Of America’s first UK performance in 10 years. And when they finally show up, their show is one to remember. PUSA might look like car salesmen but they rock like motherfuckers and make you think 1) I want to start a band right now 2) How the hell these guys weren’t elected instead of George W Bush?
In one and a half hours, the only rock trio without a bass player that sounds like a hundred bands together on the same stage proceed to play all of their “greatest hits” and have the audience eating from their hands. After all these years PUSA are still enjoying themselves like kids on a school trip. Gems like ‘Peaches’, ‘Mobile Home’, ‘Kiddy’, ‘Lump’, ‘Naked and Famous’ intersect entertainingly with the band's onstage antics, like when frontman Chris Ballew imitates a harmonica sound with his voice and throws the invisible instrument into the audience, or when he makes them all get down on their knees and repeat what he sings – including the line “sippy sippy sippy poo”. A final medley of The Spice Girls ‘Wannabe’, The Ramones ‘I Wanna Be Sedated’ and 'Video Killed The Radio Star' drive people to utter madness and testify the greatness of this live band.
“Four more years”.
