Live Review

Athlete – O2 Academy, Liverpool

• 26th Nov 2010

I didn’t realise it had actually been 10 years since Athlete’s first single. What a breath of fresh air they were then. It’s great to know that they still are after a decade of fresh melodic and original ‘hits’. I was surprised they were playing the smaller stage. I seriously believed the larger floor above would fill up for them, but still they were far from disappointed and contributed to a slightly intimate gig.

They wasted no time in playing their best known tunes from the off. Joel Pott started ‘You Got The Style’ acoustically which got the crowd involved immediately, with the band then joining in half way through. The rockier ‘Hurricane’ had a few people bouncing, but they’re not that kind of band. The crowd were a mixture of mature couples, students, and the usual awe-inspired ‘indie boppers’, all singing in unison at various parts to their very well known memorable songs. Rightly so also.

‘Black Swan Song’, written about Pott’s late grandfather, was very touching with its moving lyrics. We hear this also in ‘Wires’ later on. These songs would obviously be very difficult for Pott to perform every night, but he seems to disguise this with his broad smile and manages to let the perfectly produced melodies and sounds take control, which are evident in each and every song. Athlete sound as perfect live as they do on record, but they far from create a wooden performance like most perfectionists would. They still generate a great vibrant atmosphere throughout the night.

Appreciating each member’s valued role in the group, the keyboardist Tim Wanstall is the actual genius, inconspicuously creating the original sounds that have not been heard before or between their album releases. I saw the 6 years ago in Sydney during my travelling and they sounded as polished now as they did then. ‘Beautiful’ and ‘El Salvador’ immediately echoed this. The classics kept coming and the audience grew in voice as the night went on. ‘Twenty Four Hours’, ‘Outsiders’, ‘Rock Scene’ kept up with the high standards they had set themselves for the show. They finished with the operatic apt ‘Chances’ and ‘Satellites’ which ended a very enjoyable experience all round.

Where most young bands like to rebel and make a noise other than their music, the parents of this band will be proud that their boys have grown up to be the opposite, unassuming, unaffected and forever grateful. They don’t attempt to be too deep nor make grand statements which reflect their non-existent egos. I think that’s why they appeal to this civil crowd. They appealed to a wide range of music fan of all ages, which proves you don’t have to be angst-ridden to appeal to youth. I would honestly say they are the most original band in the past 10 years, as we haven’t heard a band that have been influenced by them in the past decade. They simply cannot be replicated, in sound and in song writing.