Easyworld Gig #19
17 02 2004Today’s Easyworld gig falls on the 3rd Anniversary (+ 1 day) of our first ever easyworld gig, which took place on the 16th of February, 2001, at the Coventry Coliseum. And they’re STILL PLAYING JUNKIES. Jesus christ. Have mercy, people.
For this gig, Ian expressed an interest in coming, mainly due to the fact that he’s been hearing Nikki rave about Easyworld for around 2 years or so. He seemed to enjoy it as much as anyone can enjoy the piano-heavy sets, but it allowed us to explain the whole gig-going culture and etiquette to him, so that was fun.
For some very strange reason, there was a huge queue. It was incredibly long, for an Easyworld gig. We were just facing a terrible wait when Nikky, who had come to Oxford for the occasion, appeared and allowed us to cut into the queue with her. She introduced us to her friend, and showed us some photos of Josh which had been double exposed with a party in the park, leading to some excellent pictures of Josh the Benevolent Deity of Rock casting a watchful eye over the crowd, and one particularly amusing photo of a 150 ft high disembodied Josh Head gazing translucently out from the stage. The queue was moving incredibly slowly (thanks to the ticketless venue system which, frankly, requires more work) and we got rained on a bit, but eventually made it inside.
The first band were called “Dive Dive”. They were pretty good, as far as support bands go. We spent a lot of time making sure Ian understood that “support bands are normally pretty crap, so don’t exect to like them” but it was a nice surprise in that they were about as good as support bands come. I’d have bought a single if there’d been any there, which is about the best praise I can give.
Lickily, our damnment of all things support band was justified by the second act. “The Upper Room” they called themselves, with a blatant disregard for venues containing a upper room. I can imagine many a comedy situation where someone tries to explain that the BAND called The Upper Room is playing the upper room. This isn’t where the comedic potential for the band ends though, my god no. You know when a band is so bad it’s funny? That was them. I’d say that you get two types of crap support acts, the ones that just make an offensive din, and the ones that are hilariously incompetent. The guy couldn’t sing, the music wasn’t terrible (but nothing great) and the lyrics were tremendously prosaic, which is what made me laugh. The songs all seemed to go along the lines of “I phoned you/and you wouldn’t speak to me/then I went to the shops/and bought a cup of tea” and that’s not even a huge exaggeration (especially, unfortunately, the rhyming…) I guess they’ll be supporting at Warwick and ULU too. I know my assessment of them might sound harsh, so, to present a few alternative opinions: When I turned around to see what Tom thought, he was laughing at them, as was Ian, and I’m not sure of his past gig-going (if any) but they weren’t exactly up against much of a frame of reference and he still thought they were hilariously bad. When they finished their 3rd song, Nikki ran over from the place she was standing to tell us she thought they were terrible. To show I’m not biased, Fishy said they were “Okay” and the guy standing in front of us who smelt strange was dancing along to their medicore crap, so not everyone’s as brutal as me.
After that, Easyworld came onstage. I say “after”, there was quite a long wait in between, but we shan’t concern ourselves with talk of it. To be honest, I didn’t think they were entirely on form. They sounded as good as they ever are, but it seemed slightly more shambolic than usual, which I attribute to being the first date of a new tour. The set was about the same as the last tour, with Junkies and Demons thrown in for good measure, in place of Don’t Expect You to Notice and Stain. I think I preferred the last tour’s set, since it didn’t contain two of my most hated Easyworld songs. I admit they fit better with the new stuff though. I swear people were singing along with Til the Day, which was just…weird. I’ve heard it live quite a few times, but suddenly the whole crowd knows it. It’s the only way I can connect the chart positions with the live performances. There was an encore, apparantly unplanned, of You & Me. Dav sang a portion of Justin Timberlake’s “Rock Your Body” which was the first time I’ve seen them play that as the cover in the middle of it. It sounded really good done on guitars, and Dav sang it really well. They should clearly be sticking it on as a B-Side. They would be if I had anything to say about it. The crowd was really jumping for You & Me too, which along with the Til the Day singalong implies a mix of old and new fans. This bodes well for Future Opxford gigs too, in contrast with the last time they came to the Zodiac, the place was packed and the fans enthusiastic.
So that was it. First gig on a new tour. Warwick is next, one week hence, where Paul will be supporting. The the ULU gig about a month after. Much gentle head-nodding fun yet to be had.
Hey man, sorry 2 hear you don’t like our shit! We’re really new to the scene so it counts what people say. We love what we’re doin tho and we think it’s blinding!…Take it easy, Jimbo
Unfortunately, my opinion seems to be prevailing pretty much everywhere I’ve seen mention of the support bands (easyworld forum and livejournal) and that’s only 2 gigs in. Talk about an uphill struggle…
This place seems pretty enthusiastic though. Maybe I’m just not the target audience or something ;-)
i liked them (the upper room)
but then i have no taste
WHAT!!!!
Fair enough, the opening band were awful, but i saw The Upper Room in Northampton, the night before and they were great!!! Dodgy lyrics? Black And White Boring was a great song, still humming it now and i’d never even heard of them before yesterday! Plus, why are you moaning about Easyworld playing Junkies? Radiohead still play creep, Blur still play the Universal, Oasis still do wonderwall. All Of these songs are older than Junkies!
Also, were you honestly surprised that some people there had bought the new albumn already?
It’s more that easyworld have always been a band to quickly drop older songs in favour of new stuff, but Junkies has somehow persisted. Sure, Radiohead play creep, but they haven’t been playing it consistently at every gig for 10 years, that’s more my point. Even the big hits get left behind eventually, Placebo haven’t played Nancy Boy in years and they didn’t play Pure Morning either the last few times we saw them.
The band get tired of playing the same song over and over again, and I’m sure the crowd eventually gets bored of them after a while too. I can live without Creep if it means I get to hear There There.
Now, admittedly I’ve been to a few more Easyworld gigs than your average fan so I may have tired of such songs quicker, and I never liked Junkies anyway, but at this point I know for a fact it’s in there mostly to be a crowd pleaser and not because they still think it’s their best song. I’m part of the crowd and it’s not pleasing me, I can’t be alone in thinking that.
ALso, I wasn’t surprised people had bought the new album, I’m not even entirely sure why you think that. If you mean the Til the Day singing along the crowd did, well, I find that surprisingly solely because it never struck me as the kind of song people would want to sing along to. TIWIS, yeah, Til the Day… not really. You don’t get the entire crowd trying their hands at Junkies or Demons, not to the scale that Til the Day was accompanied. That’s why I was surprised.
And I saw the Upper Room again in Warwick. They still did absolutely nothing for me.
I saw Easyworld at the ULU, thought they were excellent. I just wondered if anyone knew the adress of The Upper Room’s website? Thanks :) (ps I was Trel’s little friend, to anyone actually in The Upper Room!)
PS everyone rocks :D Happiness vibes all round
hi debbie!
upper room site:
http://www.theupperroommusic.co.uk
easyworld @ULU we’re impressive; especially the sax solo & (recent?) addition of dav’s trombone…
I love the upper room, and frankly such vehement dislike of supporting bands seems pretty pathetic, blogman. easyworld like them too.
whats all this about the upper room? I saw them support easyworld at Norwich arts centre and they were amazing.
the first band, shitty hairdresser or whatever they’re called looked and sounded like a christian youth group band who were never cool enough for oasis and had to sing about herbal baths with the relatively geeky blur, and were absolute shite!
The upper room were the best support band i have seen in ages. i dont see them getting very far, not through lack of talent just becuase the fact that they dont fit into a category. I cant see NME liking them, which is usually the kiss of death. The singer reminded me of a hetrosexual, less excentric morrisey.
Easyworld i thought were even more dissapointing live than the chas’n'dave tribute band at chicago rock.
they have the big tunes, but wheres the energy? they have the ballads but wheres the intimacy?
Sorry easyworld, but thanks for the upper room!
Just getting round to reading all the post-gig analysis stuff after wading through the post-tour armageddon that is my bedroom.
The first time I heard The Upper Room, first night of the tour funnily enough, I thought they were easy on the ear and tight with honest lyrics, by 2/3 of the way into the tour I was watching them every night, without fail, and all members of our tour party were waking up with their tunes in our heads. I know no band is everyone’s cup of tea but these guys I am fond of in an age of quick fixes and immediacy over talent; the band that grows on you and not one you grow sick of, with thoroughly nice members too.
As for the Chas n’Dave chap, sorry to disappoint you, I suggest you pleasure yourself in the toilets at Sellafield if you’re looking for more energy and intimacy.
Much love xxx
What the hell? Who is this guy? I mean, I thought I’d met some feeble-minded nincompoops in my time, but this guy just takes the biscuit. In all my years, never before have I had the misfortune to read such irrelevant and incomprehensible comments on ANY website.
I’ve been seen The Upper Room on stage, and I happen to know from first-hand experience that he is nothing short of a WICKED musician.
So enough from you, Oh Foolish One. Crawl back to whenceforth you came. Lift up that stone, and crawl beneath its dark recesses for as long as you care to.
Big up Da Wickham
Well, thanks for at least taking the time to write our sentences, Mr. Wickham, it seems I can’t expect even that from most of my detractors.
I do not claim to find the technical ability of the Upper Room anything less than good. They play instruments far better than I’d ever have the patience to learn. I’m sure they’re very nice people. Unfortunately, this isn’t enough for me to say “yes, they make good music.” because, in my opinion, they don’t. I’ve qualified why I think that, and it boils down to a matter of opinion. I gave them a few chances and they aren’t doing anything for me. I thought the Delays weren’t great when I saw them, and next thing I know, bam, they get a top 20 single, so clearly I don’t know what I’m talking about. I don’t expect to prescribe musical taste in some kind of NME-esque fashion, I expect merely to describe my own.
Admittedly, my comments are often harsh and filled with exaggeration, but hey, that’s just my way of entertaining myself.
HEH. awww. I WIKE DA UPPA WOMB HEH. I FINK DEY R GUD N STUFF. HEH. TOM CLANCY 4 JOHN CANDY
xxxxx
Are you mad ? The Upper Room are the greatest band since the Stones.
Hi, this is the real Jim here, wondering why the hell someone would masquerade as me (i think I know who you are..m.f. ;-)) Don’t make a habit of writing on peoples weblogs but no comment other than thanks for all the free publicity
oh, and I wish you well with your rather, er, interesting “blog”.
..and 1 more thing. if you weren’t quite such a smarmy little shite, you might have a life worth diarising ;-) That is all.
Come on man, don’t leave it there, you were just building up some momentum. I downloaded your free EP the other day for old time’s sake, though I haven’t listened to it yet because I lead such an action-packed interesting life. Maybe I’ll give it a review, that always goes down a storm with my many fans.
sorely tempting i must say, but have since had it on fairly good authority that you are actually nice (:-0), and are “just like that”…damn, i was enjoying that little tirade. come down to brighton on the 22nd for some more mud-slinging fun though if you wish, looking forward to your review..(cough cough)
SPLUTTER COUGH AHEM tahh
The Upper Room suck rusty donky shit
*donkey