THEY'RE ACE.
Last night's Stellastarr⁎ gig at Carling Islington Academy was very good indeed. Not only did stellastarr⁎ meet all the expectations of their album, but also there were two good support bands, that's my whole year's worth of gigging in one week!
The 22's were kind of cute girl punky Noo Wave from Noo Yawk, a bit too styled though, all Face hair cuts, like they were from an American version of fame academy... Then all the journo's in the room were there to see the middle band on - The Ordinary Boys. A bit ordinary indeed I thought, but everyone else seemed to like them and said they were like The Jam. I think that is the official line on them. THEY'RE LIKE THE JAM, now can I have some free stuff? Actually they burst in, nice and noisy, and the singer has a right unique way with the vocals, it's nice to see someone doing their own thing rather than doing songs in someone else's voice.
I'm very glad stellastarr⁎ lived up to all the expectations, they have a sound that I love (a mix of Pulp, The Wedding Present, The Cure, Roxy Music, The Wannadies, loads of stuff) and again a distinctive sound from the singer (no idea of his name and http://www.stellastarr.com is down so I can't look up), some mad new york gothic barking this time though.
Some of the sound wasn't so good, we couldn't really hear the lady in the band, and for the echoey plucky intro of "In The Walls" the guitarist turned his back to us, was he really playing it? Hmm... Apart from that though, no complaints. Except...
Three pounds ruddy forty for a pint though, what's that all about? And slow service at the bar, it's not a nice venue at all, and an odd sort of crowd, didn't look quite like a London gigging crowd, especially not when all the journo's left after The Ordinary Boys, they looked a bit provincial and a bit Christian, WEIRD.
Anyway, that is my whole ration of reviewing for the rest of the year. Go and get the Stellastarr⁎ album, and buy it for everyone you know for Christmas, they'll love it.
This content originally from my popular (in the tail end of the '90s) website popex.com. Parts were contributed by other people, but mainly originally created by me. I moved the content here here when popex finally shut down in the early '00s. Hopefully this ignites memories (if you find it).