Wednesday 31 March 2010

528 YOU ARE HERE, Phase Rotate, Swindon Victoria, Thursday 13 September 2001


I thought I'd give my new boots a debut rock gig, then nearly regretted it when I had to park in a small space and kept hitting both pedals with my very chunky boot sole! Nevertheless, I sorted it out, and Rachel and I met up with YAH guitarist and good friend Tim in the pub. Chatted while the support band plied their dull AOR sounding trade in the back room. We actually ventured in to check them out for a couple of numbers; and quickly wished we hadn't bothered! However, they were running late which meant You Are Here didn't get onstage until 10.30.

The band, now featuring new bassist Liam, took a couple of numbers to settle back in; "Confidence In You", with its Midway Still-esque stop/start riffery, sounded a little rushed, and they made their usual mess of "Not A Summer Song", Tim this time the culprit with some spectacularly off-key guitar work! However they settled during a fine "Feeling Confused" and delivered a fine sounding and rocking set. The guitar sound dominated the mix and lent a harder edge to their sometimes introspective pop, and new guy Liam is obviously a veteran of this type of thing, relaxed and confident onstage, throwing some quips around between songs and giving a more visual dynamic to this often static band by jumping about and throwing shapes. This even rubbed off on Mark, the normally static vocalist abandoning the mikestand and prowling around the stage staring menacingly at the floor.

Newie "Ordinary Day" was the highlight, perhaps their best song yet, with a more sophisticated, Sebadoh-like construction, and "Trying To Write" the breathless set finale, before encore "Hard To Stop" closed the evening. You Are Here are well warmed up for next week's big Garage show, and on this form should impress. Keep reading...

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