ˇForward, Russia! @ Joseph's Well
By Luke Ramsden
The worst kept secret gig in the history of music it may be, but whenever ˇForward, Russia! are in town, there's no way the crowds aren't going to find a way into the venue in their droves and from the first moment to the last, Joseph's Well is absolutely rammed.
The Pigeon Detectives kick off proceedings in typically fine fashion with their quasi-anthemic raucous tunes of plenty. A staggeringly large attendance is afforded to the hastily becoming new found crown princes of Leeds Britrock. Even though they may be propping up the bill, they thoroughly give the crowd a good going over with, granted a tad identikit, but nevertheless songs stocked full of enthusiasm and all kinds of other happy words, that create an overall impression of tales and misdemeanour about modern life while being delivered with gusto and no shortage of talent as a band to pull it off as triumphantly as The Pigeon Detectives unflappably (jeeezus) manage to do. The double header conclusion of 'I'm Always Right' & 'I'm Not Sorry', is as good as any band doing the rounds right now. Great stuff.
Every Move A Picture on the other hand veer from the passable to the drole with (un)remarkable ease. Obviously aiming at the Editors, Cinematics, post-Joy Division crowd but lacking the hooks and star quality to hold anybody's attention here tonight. Most of the numbers on show open with a fairly distinctive hook but the tempo, hooks and time signatures just do not match up as cohesively and successfully as bands like the before mentioned Editors manage to implement. The one song that does have all the makings of garnering some attention (I'm reliably informed) is dubbed 'Future Potentials' which, although suffering from an unfortunately quite weak vocal delivery, has had some effort taken over it. The rest though descends into unwittingly being forced to drift off and notice dodgy plastering on Joseph's Wells roofing.
Despite being the victim of a ridiculously short set, Duels leave with a lot of credit tonight. They've perfected their sound and every single song down to a tee since their incarnation now many moons ago. It's difficult to claim "It's only a matter of time until they're big" but it would be mildly disappointing if they never took a step up from the position they're in now. Out of the half a dozen or so songs on parade, their finale takes the proverbial biscuit but with the occasional rabble rousing crowd sing-a-long moments, a baiting Kaiser Chiefs style fan base could be just peeping into view on the horizon.
On to ˇForward, Russia! it is then. Or Welcome Megatron as they were pompously monikered for tonight's show. With no disrespect intended to the competition in Leeds and as good and strong as local music is right now, there's no question ˇForward, Russia! are still in a class of their own.
As Leeds gradually fills up with people in exclamation point t-shirts and the band break the perilous walls of the top 40 hit parade you know it's only a matter of times before the ruskies finally go colossal.
Opening with the beats and twinkles of 'Thirteen' and then exploding headlong into its gushing high octane soaring chorus, ˇForward, Russia! Are off with a bang.
There are still some minor problems with tonight's show however. As despite being a 'secret' show and expecting predominantly diehard, battle hardened ˇForward, Russia! fans to be in attendance, the level of activity down the front is sparse at best, compared to past shows this year at least. Slight hints the sound may be a bit on the quiet side as well but other than that it is a textbook ˇForward, Russia! show.
Anyone who knows anything about ˇForward, Russia! by now knows what to expect. Tom will nearly garrotte himself on the mic cord at least half a dozen times, streams of incomprehensible but still sing-a-long-able screeching lyrics will encompass all within half a mile radius and the songs will make you dance, bounce, sing, scream and frolic all in one fell swoop.
Put simply, ˇForward, Russia! are an incredible live band. They may now be elder statesmen of the Leeds scene and becoming to seem like the proverbial big fish in a small pond but patience is a virtue and so are songs as unbelievably superb as ˇForward, Russia! invariably possess.
