Monday 17/10/05 Reuben, Fighting With Wire, Mascara Story @ Academy 3, Manchester

Manchester seems to have a calm, chilled-out atmosphere going on in The Academy tonight. However, there's definitely an underlying energy and feeling of expectancy for Reuben, tonight’s headliners. First up is Mascara Story. Some tight energetic drumming caught the crowd’s attention instantly and it really made the songs what they were. There'S definitely a sense though that the bassist and guitarist simply couldn’t write material of a quality that was good enough for the drummer. On a positive note they produced tunes that were easy on the ear with interesting harmonies and well thought out lyrics. 

From tonight, it's clear that Fighting With Wire had certainly spent some time studying their Lost Prophets records when they wrote their material. The songs have permanent harmonies of thirds that seem to run consistently throughout pretty much every track. At least they were in tune and had pleasant voices. The crowd seemed to be enjoying the raw sound they were creating and they’re stage presence was definitely to be applauded. 

Although the support acts had provided a good show for the crowd, there was a great sigh of relief as the lights went down and Reuben walked out on stage. They launch into the brilliantly titled 'Every Time a Teenager Listens to Drum n Bass A Rock Star Dies’ off the new album ‘Very Fast, Very Dangerous’. The track seems to posses everything that a good song should do. Aggressive bass and guitar parts with strong passionate vocals from Jamie Lenman start the song, however, it’s not long before these are pulled out to a more dynamically quiet section. Lyrics "you’re so pretty and I’m so stupid"  build up until it all kicks off again. 

There's a serious lighter in the air moment in ‘Nobody Loves You’. The song is truly beautiful, with harmonies that are slightly rough round the edges appear in all the right places. Soft drumming from Guy Davis showed musicality and the need for sensitivity in the track. The change in atmosphere was unbelievable after the chaos of the mosh pit to suddenly see the crowd taking in all the fine details of the track.  It wasn’t long however before the mood was plummeting back in to it’s previous state with a guest vocal appearance from the Million Dead front man on the track ‘Alpha Signal Three’. 

It goes to show that these guys are virtually impossible to pigeonhole, as they seem to encompass so many genres. On top of that audience interaction was second to none and they did a great job of thanking all their fans for the support. The only disappointment of the evening was that they weren’t in a bigger venue. Seriously though, check them out because they will blow your mind.