Ungdomskulen, Young Knives and Lightspeed rock the Astoria
Ungdomskulen earned the wrath of fellow Scandinavian Ida Maria.
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Monday, 17, Mar 2008 04:57
Having been amused by the Scandinavian rock trio that is Ungdomskulen, inthenews.co.uk's Lee Davis watched them perform at London's Astoria, and stayed to catch rising stars Lightspeed Champion and the Young Knives.
There's no denying Ungdomskulen's sense of humour which I was treated to when I recently interviewed them, now it was time to see them play live.
To read the inthenews.co.uk interview, click here
The main stage of the Astoria on London's Charing Cross Road was the location, and Ungdomskulen followed the energetic guitar surges of Ida Maria.
In fact, her lively performance saw her cut her knee open rather badly when she hit the floor hard during Oh My God.
Later, it transpired her dynamic performance stemmed from anger. Ms Maria was annoyed that she was playing before Ungdomskulen.
The fact that there's no love lost between Ida Maria and her fellow countrymen did not appear to affect the Bergen rockers, whose set got underway with No Ordinary Son.
The song kicked off with a roar of grunge underlined with echoes of Thin Lizzy thanks to frontman Kristian Stockhaus' vocals.
All the while bassist Frode Kvinge Flatland kept the music fiery, and drummer Oyvind Solheim's economic and precise skills provided the band with a soulful energy.
However, the crowd was non-plussed, they were awaiting headliners the Young Knives.
The crowd's mood was not helped by Ungdomskulen plunging into a meandering prog rock interlude.
They next launched into Unleash The Modern Drummer, their new single, which is dedicated to drummer Solheim.
This song opened with blistering hard rock power-plays and a nifty lightshow. Unfortunately, overwhelming vocals diminished the presence of the drummer. Bit of a shame, really, being a dedication and all.
Luckily, halfway through, Solheim fought back and more than squared up to the ferocious vocals on display with some excellent drumming. Unleash The Modern Drummer went down well with the previously lifeless crowd.
Now Ungdomskulen went into high gear with their final song Spartacus. It shot out of the starting gate with a definite British hard rock vibe.
The intro blazed away for at least five minutes before allowing Stockhaus' vocals to come to the fore. The frontman was actually restrained this time out, and his voice took on a very impressive Gary Numan quality.
Then the song was over. Or was it? Spartacus was rebooted into a brilliantly unhinged but melodically perfect aural assault that enabled the Scandinavian trio to squeeze every drop out of the song's rock-cum-punk credentials.
Although the crowd remained mostly static apart from some half-hearted clapping.
When Ungdomskulen finally left the stage, there was a cheer, more in relief than appreciation. This part of Britain proved unassailable to these particular invaders.
Lightspeed Champion, aka Dev Hynes, was an unexpected arrival at the Astoria that night, and he followed Ungdomskulen.
He took to the main stage after a frantic soundcheck that was carried out while relentless dance music was piped through the London venue's less-than-perfect sound system.
Lightspeed Champion and company's set sizzled from the start with alt.country-meets-indie on what sounded like album track Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk.
This warmed the crowd up nicely for Dev's bravura vocals on Galaxy of the Lost. At song's end, the crowd let rip with applause and loud cheering.
The same crowd that had endured Ungdomskulen less than an hour before.
Next up, Lightspeed Champion sauntered with aplomb into 50s rock 'n' roll with Tell Me What It's Worth.
This was followed by a song about a prostitute that opened with a thumpingly good Squeeze/Kinks/Britpop vibe, and stayed in place throughout this slab of indie-pop par excellence.
Perhaps this is one of the songs to be included on Champion's two forthcoming albums being road-tested before he enters the recording studio.
The Strokes-inspired F***sucker was performed next. A song, as Hynes explained, about meeting an ex-girlfriend. The number was an effortless blend of celtic guitar and ruthless drumming, topped by Hynes' genre-defying vocals.
Finally, Lightspeed Champion and entourage pleased everyone's inner geek by launching into a fantastic violin solo version of the Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back, which was majestically segued into a Queen-styled rendition of the Star Wars theme.
And the crowd, just like the ill-fated Death Star, was utterly blown away.
They remained that way when the Young Knives performed. More confident than ever, the Knives opened with former set-closer She's Attracted To, a track that cements their fine live reputation.
The Knives went into epic mode with Turn Tail, even unleashing a mini-orchestra. Things built to a superb crescendo when they blasted into Current Of The River.
There's talk of the Young Knives being jaded but that wasn't apparent in the least, and don't dare say that to the very appreciative crowd.
Lee Davis