Live Review

You Me At Six – Carling Academy, Liverpool

• 25th Oct 2008

I’ve got to put it out there; I have to admit that if the words pop, emo, American and synth are thrown at me, I automatically get very excited. So when I saw that that’s exactly what You Me At Six’s supports were like, I was ready for a dance!

The academy was busy, with the majority of Liverpool’s under 16 girls inside, and the first band were the epitome of North Carolina where they hail from. Lots of pop, sunny beats and more synth than necessary, yet still overly enjoyable! The knowledge of yet more pop was a great boost of my confidence, knowing what was to come later, and Houston Calls are definitely the band you’d want to warm up a crowd for you, stage jumps, melodic pop riffs and great harmonies; they really got the crowd going, and it was a great base to support the release of their new album!

Talking of new albums was the reason I was worried about the You Me At Six set. The new album isn’t a disgrace, it just didn’t live up to my expectations, however luckily for them, and for the Liverpool crowd, the set they played was great, even if the sound engineers could have done a better job. The band seemed a little bored of what they were doing, but the pop pushed through and the tight riffs and great energy really gave the set a lift. You could have been mistaken for thinking that tonight’s line up was all American, alas it is just the way that the Surrey quintet stifle their posh boy accents. It’s not the worst thing about the band, its just a little on the irritating side, like the fact that it would have been a perfect set to throw in something fun. It was a good show, but lacking that je ne sais quoi of entertainment value.