The Coral @ Faversham
By Richard GarnettFifty or so genuine Radio Aire competition winners and an army of press, liggers, blaggers and Leeds scene wannabes (people who don't have to be in work on a Friday afternoon) crowded into the Faversham. All of them there to witness a "secret" gig by the band you'd use as an example when explaining to an alien what a scouser was. In fact you'd use their 15 year old roadie who caused the security staff to twitch every time he carried the guitars out of the dressing room.
Only 3 rather bored looking members of The Coral are on display today, introduced by some local radio tea boy with a "hey you groovy kids" attitude. It's a real demonstration of how out of touch the world of local radio is when the intro consists of a "the British music scene is healthier than ever" load of nonsense. That's right a headless chicken does appear to have a lot of energy! Any how on roll 3 Corals and begin their acoustic set. Firstly the sound is awful, an unearthed lead or instrument is causing one hell of a nasty buzz through the PA and given that the sound is low key this really does hinder the whole event. Then one of the guitars isn't working, this really isn't going to plan, which is a shame because it's clear The Coral have some of the sweetest guitar based pop songs to come out of Merseyside for some years such as "In The Morning", "Something Inside of Me" and "Pass It On". Then as quickly as they came on they're gone. Some competition prize that! 5 songs, no banter, bored performance and it's back to Radio Aire being "down with the scene". There was one final amusement as the voice on stage announced "Don't forget we have tickets to see Simply Red in Cuba to give away"... you've never seen more people look like they were sucking a lemon than in that one moment.
