Feeder 02/11/2008

Well, Apologies for the intermission in gigs, and lack of any review for 7 Seconds Of Love (I screwed up and missed that ) and Beautiful Days (A festival review was a bit much all in one go... Go check out 12 Stone Toddler though as they were AWESOME!). There will be a few more gigs over the next month or two as there is a glut of unmissable gigs coming up...

Well, let's begin with a quick word on the venue, as it's a new one to me, the gig was in The Newport Centre, which is the city/town (not sure which(!)) council leisure centre I think. The main hall where the gig was held was a good size, big enough to get the 'big gig' atmosphere, but small enough that even if you were right at the back of the seating area you could probably still see really well.

As for the support act, I have a small confession to make... For the first time ever I actually purposefully missed the support act (having been forewarned who it was, and needing time to cook dinner after work!) - FightStar... I arrived pretty perfectly time wise, in time for their final song so I could take advantage of their fans leaving for the toilet to get to a good spot! While watching the roadies setup for Feeder I was reminded how cool the new bass drum skin looks with the crow picture (like the cover of their latest album 'Silent Cry') - I'd learn to drum again so I could get one!

The crowd were in good cheer from the word go. In fact, as there were 'Feeder, Feeder' chants going from 5-10 minutes before the gig kicked off, that's not strictly true! There were a few stalwart 'I'm not going to jump around' types, but a few of them gave up by the encore... The general atmosphere from the crowd was really great, as it usually seems to be for Feeder - everyone was joining in and having fun.

The gig started with the mini song that is snuck in between the first two tracks on 'Silent Cry', I personally don't like it as it's well cheesy and unnecessary. (The lyrics are something like 'we are one, we are free' etc, makes me think of Bono at his preachiest...) And as it ended the band came on stage and got the gig started with the first song on the new album 'We Are The People'. After that (or maybe another as well) they uncovered and switched on three big screens at the back of the stage which then showed of some really great film clips and general lighting additions for the rest of the show - highlights were the big flying crow (I expect, no idea really, but a crow fits their current theme ) that reached across all three screens for 'Shatter' (along with lots of bright red rockin' out lights) and indeed all the big red rockin' out songs, there's something about red flashing lights that make me wanna jump around like a fool...

Set list wise I was disappointed on a couple of fronts, they didn't play ANYTHING but 'High' from their first two albums, last major tour they had 'Descend' in there in a massive extended shreddy old school feeder stylee and everyone I've talked to who saw that loved it. Also, on their mini tour in May Grant mentioned the possibility of adding 'Tangerine' to the set list for the Autumn tour, but when people shouted for it this time around he said 'There's always someone at every gig who requests that..' then played the main riff a little (to roars of approval) before admitting that's all he can remember of it! There were boos at that comment, possibly from me too... Personally I'd prefer Sweet-16, but anything from 'Polythene' or 'Swim' would be great, as there's same real belters on them both... At least they got most of the important songs from the rest of the back catalogue in - 'Insomnia', 'Buck Rodgers', and 'We Can't Rewind' was a nice surprise. I was slightly put out they didn't play 'Miss You' off the new album, but with 'Shatter in there I couldn't complain too much...

It was nice to see the new live version of 'Lost and Found' again, but with more thought put in than last time. While last time Grant Started us off on the 'new' lyrics in the middle of it, this time around he just asked everyone to sing along and made the riff gradually more like 'One by One' until everyone had clicked and we all sang the first verse and chorus of it before tearing back into 'Lost and Found'.

Sadly there weren't enough people in the crowd who'd seen them before, as during the wait for an encore the attempt to get every one singing the 'Just A Day' riff didn't really take off, which was probably good really as last time it took off I ended up singing it for about 10minutes before the song began! However there was plenty of noise made and we got a three song encore (if I remember right!) First song featured just Grant and Dean (their live second guitarist) for an almost acoustic stripped down song which I can't name as I'm not too good with the names on the new album yet! This was followed by the brilliant live '7 Days in the Sun', complete with a chilled intro with crowd only vocals... Then came the moment we were all looking forward to most, with a little prompting from Grant the crowd began to sing the 'Just a Day' riff and then the band joined in and that is where I last saw (heard?!) my voice last night! after 'singing' (closer to yelling really) my way through that little lot I'm impressed my voice was still present this morning!

Overall it was, as expected, yet another great live set from Feeder. Even after seeing them live for the fourth time I can't wait for the next tour I have spare cash to spend on! Hopefully by then they will have re-learnt Tangerine and/or Sweet-16, as I think once I've seen Feeder play them live I could die pretty happy!

Look out for the next installment, I'm hoping to get back to somewhat regular gigs, as I've really missed live music... Now go find some live music near you and support the acts you like in the most direct way you can!

Photos are HERE!

Upcoming gigs:

16/11/2008 - The Zutons (money and ticket availability providing

30/11/2008 - Flipron and Misty's Big Adventure dual headline

04/12/2008 - Streetlight Manifesto

05/12/2008 - Dodgy