Live Review

The Pioneers – Carling Academy, Liverpool

• 28th Mar 2008

Carling Academy
23rd march 2008

It is Easter Sunday, and God forgive me, but we have a bastion of music excess and rock n roll contortion on this Holy day.

Kingsway are from Warrington. It’s not hard to figure this out as their rampant support delight in cheering Oh Wazza Wazza, Wazza, Warrington in between songs. It’s a party atmosphere and these four cheeky mix of Liverpool and Man United ‘Reds’ (boo) are revelling in their role as warmer-uppers. With more than a healthy nod towards the Britpop era and their baggy forefathers, it’s not hard to see why Warrington is sometimes regarded as being behind the times. But does it matter when your tunes are fun and rousing, engaging old and new fans alike, and causing mild hysteria at the front? This is what live music is about.

The Soundwaves are a young band finding their feet in the pop world. They recently won a Radio Merseyside Battle of The Bands (I will try and refrain from my automatic knee jerk response to any mention of a BOTB) and they have come on leaps and bounds since I first saw them last year. They are not completely honed yet and their songs still need developing to make them ‘special’, but they do contain the raw hooks that are the basis of all things pop. I will watch on..

The Black Jackals are assured and competent. Maybe not as poppy as the supports but grinding out the stoner rock with noise and aplomb they are here to woo rather than excite with their stern brand of rock. It’s not quite so pretty but it is attractive in its intensity.

The Pioneers are the headliners which the near capacity crowd have come to see. Super young with bags of teenage pomp and tribulation, their songs are immature but charming because of it. Swinging between shoe gazing and ripped up rock n roll, they are still finding their feet amongst their musical ‘scapes. There are glimpses of what lies beneath, with catches of hooks and tight musicianship and I do anticipate their eventual musical coming to be an impressive affair.

They ooze confidence on stage and with an easy manner fill the space with tight jeans and vests; the next generation of Wirral pop sending shivers of delight down many a gleeful teenagers spine.

Its mostly potential they have in abundance, from a strictly musical stand point, but all bands start somewhere and when you have hundreds of fans already, you can anticipate the beginnings of myth and folklore.