The Music, Koko, Camden, July 18th
Thursday, 24 Jul 2008 15:01
The Music, Koko, Camden, July 18th
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley sees the Leeds foursome in triumphant form at the iTunes festival.
They've been away for a while but the Music's barnstorming performance at the iTunes festival - booked after they wowed the soon-to-be-demolished Astoria a week before - proved that while the effects of addiction and being dropped might be visible on the faces of the Yorkshire four, there's no discernible evidence of it having lessened their ferocity in live performance.
Old favourite The Truth is No Words is as fierce as when it debuted in 2002 and as the north London crowd pogoes happily along, Rob Harvey proves he can still headbang with vigour.
The early material throbs mightily, overshadowing the new efforts - and doing nothing to dispel that nagging feeling that the Music peaked far too early - but Welcome to the North is stadium-sized (though as my gig buddy attests, perhaps Rob should have added 'London' given the Camden venue).
New track Get Through It is a fiery closer while Idle is brooding and hints at a brave new world for the band, before The People makes a raucous return.
Even with the awareness that the crowd might all have chanced their way into the show, rather than being hardcore fans, not one remains static during the bouncy No Weapon Stronger Than Will and a one-two punch climax of Getaway and Welcome to the North's Breathe Within leads to a frenzied percussion outro.
A long-awaited, wholly glorious return.
Lewis Bazley
The Music's new single The Spike is released on August 11th.
To read the inthenews.co.uk interview with the Music, click here