Live: All The Young

Cockpit 2
September 29th
4/10
Words: John Gannon

You can be as tight as a Tory treasury but if you play a dead sound you’ll kill the atmosphere. After two solid support acts All The Young an indie rock four piece from Stoke strutted onto the stage to an engaged audience, and then proceeded to divide it. First impressions count and the decision of the front man to sport sunglasses and a suit despite the darkness and blistering heat gave a clichéd impression which foregrounded their performance.

They opened with a thick, blunt sound reminiscent of the teen movie soundtracks forgotten in 2003 (think American pie). This continued and, although their second song “First time” was well received, it wasn’t until an hour later that another distinctive sound was played in the closing track “Welcome home”. By then, large sections of the audience had abandoned the driving noise, constant tempo and stifling venue; leaving a gig they had paid £7 for at ten o’clock. It was evident that those who had never previously heard All The Young had realised that this was not the indie rock they were expecting, not in any meaningful sense. They were not, for instance, anything like their well received indie support, The Hubbards. This was more distorted pop with a Stoke accent, and people protested with their feet. Those who stuck it out seemed to enjoy themselves at some points, but there was no dancing, no jumping: just nodding and mouthing. A self assured, band wide, stage presence and a competent performance which still managed to zombify fans inspiring exodus. The performance was good, but just a matter of the wrong sound, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.