Live Review

The Crimson Roadmap – Junktion 7, Nottingham

• 2nd Jul 2007

When you’re the band who play last of all at a gig, the general rule of thumb is that half your audience will have got their hats and gone home, leaving you to entertain the colourful array of stragglers, fighting to keep a vampiric grip on their nocturnal lifestyles. The same cannot be said of tonight’s turnout, with just as many people sticking around to see The Crimson Roadmap. As the band take to the stage, a few devotees begin to chant “roadmap” over and over. This seems to instigate attentive shuffling and repositioning amongst the other onlookers as they now gawk stage wards. And when they begin to play, they initially remain gawking, hesitantly showing flickers of excitement and ability to hear!

After opening with ‘Attention-Seeking for Beginners’, every bit the Smashing Pumpkins, we’re treated to ‘When Fireworks Collide’, a spacey, groove fuelled amalgamation of Soft Cells ‘Tainted Love’ and Oasis’ ‘Columbia’. And oh Lordy! What have we here? Members from tonight’s opening band, ‘Stuntmen’, are claiming some revenge for earlier off-putting attempts by TCR. It’s all in good jest and TCR continue unfased and ready to ride it out. ‘Obsessive Compulsive’ follows. A wall of sound forms and shifts this way and then that way and then this way…you get the idea! Through this wall come some subliminal tweaks and peaks of tones and drones that are a treat to the ear, making it well worth the struggle to pick them out. And the crowd are digging it too! I can see a guitarist getting his nipples tweaked and toned! Blush! Its boy on boy action, but you can’t always choose the love you get from your fans can you?!

After ‘Children’s Fear of Idols’, an onslaught straight from Sonic Youth (SY), we have a little banter with the band. Purposeful banter that puts an end to any rumours that the audiences precious ‘Roadmap’ aren’t splitting up! ’A Softly Spoken Tyranny’ follows to compensate those out there who had indeed fretted over this rumour. ‘Siouxie and the Banshees’ cover of ‘Dear Prudence’ being drowned in Velvet Underground white noise ebbs and morphs around us all. The percussion work is particularly impressive and the track, in general, pleases all those who absorb. It’s clear for all to see that as this track closes, Anjay, the drummer, is ready to make that strange call to A&E, reporting his arms and their falling from his sweat soaked, bloodstained body! But he’ll have to wait until tonight’s gig is over, and upon recognition of this fact, he powers upward and onward!

If SY covered ‘One Armed Scissor’ by ‘The Mars Volta’, this is what we could expect to hear. ‘My Chaos Theory’ allows Rob to surprise, as he bellows out a big sound from his seemingly spacious lungs. Throughout this gig, TCR have pushed themselves ever onward toward the limits, improving ability and performance with each step, until alas, the last track is upon us.

‘Talk Amongst Yourselves’ is a rock-out of epic proportions. And it’s not just the music that’s providing entertainment! Someone is now having his nipples licked whilst he plays guitar and four more people take to the stage, armed with drumsticks, bongos and mischievous vocal concealing grins. Hey! It’s those pesky ‘Stuntmen’ again! And they enhance the show, adding some fervour and frenzied excitement to the performance. Amplifying the overall joy that comes with seeing a show like this, was something for which I was personally thankful, having just missed my last bus home. What am I supposed to do, miss the encore? No way! And just as the rooms’ mood dictated, an encore was demanded and delivered. And to see ‘Stuntmen’ perform throughout the extra two songs with every bit of passion as TCR, this really was worth the 1am, rainfall filled, fifty minute jog home, down those treacherous darkened dual carriageways.
What a great night! What a great show! What a great band! Cheers to TCR!