Funeral For A Friend + Kids In Glass Houses / City Sleeps


Liverpool University: Thursday December 20th 2007

Now December 20th is a date that I look out for every year on the calendar for the reason that it is my birthday, so when autumn rolls around I am looking out for a gig to go to to celebrate. I like nothing more on my birthday than listening to music, and if I can watch it live at the same time, great. If it’s an artist I love, bonus. This year was to bring all three and more!

Funeral For A Friend are one of my favourite rock bands, because not only are they Welsh but they have produced some amazing music over the last few years. I have seen them at every level since their debut E.P. many moons back, but this year they surpassed all before them with an incredible record called TALES DON’T TELL THEMSELVES which contained my track of the year, ‘Into Oblivion‘. For me was how modern day U2 would sound if they did not exist!!!

So then add in the fact that the gig was in my ‘City Of Angels’ Liverpool plus they had brought out with them Kids In Glass Houses - the first UK band to be signed to the mighty Roadrunner Records - alongside opening act City Sleeps who have been a name on many lips this year as a band to watch. Then throw in the icing on the cake that it’s a Thursday and the club where I DJ would be open for an after-show! I certainly felt an Alka Salsa Friday would be on the cards…

So I rolled into Liverpool at 4pm on what seemed like the coldest day of the year (the Funeral boys told me they had been in Scotland days before and it was warmer!). After hanging out and catching up with the boys from all the bands on tonight’s bill I took a wander around the area for a bit, chatting to fans who were so excited about the gig, with little clothing on and freezing cold.

So I meet TP outside the building with his trusty bag of gear (no not that kind) and we head on in. City Sleeps just extrude class, they are awash with vision, they look like a headline act playing an opening slot; they have honed their craft and with an album full of songs to match their striking front man’s looks. The band’s success is assured and after picking up their CD at the show and playing it the following day, it should and would have been included in my best of year list - that says all you need to know!

Kids In Glass Houses are another band who have had a phenomenal year. They have played some fantastic showcase gigs in both English and Welsh capitals this year, won the prestigious ‘Best New Band’ award from Kerrang! And have then capped it all with a record deal from one of the best labels. Was Roadrunner Records right? Yes, but with a no! They have the songs for sure, in fact many of them better than the opening act! But they lack presence, they look like a support band, they don’t project, they don’t connect, they seem to lack the swagger and sway of the greatness their songs promise. BUT I saw Lost Prophets at the same stage of their career and the same could have been said… These kids have more potential than Prophets and hopefully front man Aled will grow into the role, but he needs to do so fast. Watching label mates Madina Lake recently proved the point, they got the songs and the look, in 2008 that combination will become more evident and important…

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So onto the headliners. Funeral For A Friend have transcended that debut record with an emotive sophomore one and now moved into third gear with ease. They look and sound like a band that is at home in front of 2,000 or 20,000 and can still manage to be right at home at a festival with many more in attendance. Singer Matt has taken control allowing the band to flow like a river of molten metal. They look at ease and at home on that stage as they open up with a sublime ‘Roses For The Dead‘ and by the time they reach song six 10:45 Amsterdam Conversations (which is the first song they ever wrote and is taken from their debut E.P.) you as the viewer are in no doubt about how far this band has come over the last few years.

Funeral For A Friend command the stage and play as one unit as they continue through ‘Escape Artists Never Die‘ and an incendiary ‘Juneau‘ which is preceded by the opening verse and chorus of ‘Seven Nation Army‘ that works so well. It seems in a blink of an eye they have come and gone, but it’s been an hour and fifteen songs. They leave and return, the opening bars of ‘Into Oblivion‘ drop in and a sheer emotion waves over my body; it’s my track of the year, in my city, on my birthday, four minutes of sheer pleasure; and it just does not get any better than this.

The band say farewell and snow falls from the ceiling as the band not only play, but are ‘History‘. It’s a fitting final track for it’s sentiment falls on listening ears all around, lights go on and the crowd leave smiling and happy knowing that the last gig of their year is one of the best this city has seen.

What then laid ahead for myself was to get down to the Krazyhouse in Liverpool for a birthday party and an after show. All I can say is it certainly was Krazy and like all the best nights of your life, you can’t remember them in the morning. The hazy images I do remember would get me into trouble, which takes me out where I came in as Tales Don’t Tell Themselves

Jj: 2007