Live Review

NME Awards Tour 2013 – Liverpool O2 Academy

• 19th Feb 2013

Once again, it’s that time of the year; the annual NME Awards Tour is hotfooting it around the country post-haste, but is it so caught up in its own momentum that it doesn’t realise it is but a flight of fancy?

There is no arguing that the NME has been a make-it-or-break-it stage for a lot of acts, and this tour allows them to put aside their accumulated buzz from the lashings of accolades they have amounted in the previous year, and finally get the hype machine on the road. Sometimes this pays off in the form of catching acts like The Killers or Arctic Monkeys before they go supernova and at worst you’ll likely be basking in the crashing swell of a B-list artists one hit wonder.

Opening the night were a choice a pick from Birmingham’s burgeoning “beach grunge” scene, Peace, these four lads dressed a splendour in their grungy ‘70s attire put on a 30 minute sun-drenched set of heady summer tunes. Mellowed out fuzzy guitar rhythms were complimented by a faux nostalgic vibe that the crowd, all in their early teens, were eager to eat up with their borrowed nostalgia for an unremembered nineties.

Next up were Palma Violets, with an excitingly punchy punk sound, heralded by the NME as the ‘best band in Britain’ this London four piece had quite the reputation to live up too. Certainly, when they played their acclaimed single ‘Best of Friends’ the crowd was rapturous, the duel front man dynamic has Sam Fryer’s deep baritone being complimented by the yowls of Chilli Jesson in a fusion of youthful energy.

This year stuck true to form, offering up the usual guitar-riddled indie affair we’ve all come to expect in the form of Liverpool’s favourite son – Miles Kane. It was clear this was who the crowd of fresh-faced teen darlings were here to see as the room immediately exploded to life with gesticulations and raucous shouting galore. Despite this however, it seemed that Miles’ cocksure rock star attitude and presentation was merely a facade; hiding the shallow three chord strums and predictable hooks his material had to offer.

The headliners of the night were Django Django, out of the four acts on offer, these were the ones that offered the greatest shake-up in sound. After the disjointed guitar riddled sound-scape of the previous two hours, it was a refreshing change to be numbed by the rhythmic beat of bass offered up amidst the layered keyboard harmonies. The matching patterned shirts the band wore symbolised their unity as the music became one throbbing and flowing entity, moving the crowd in its rhythmatic sway.

Venue: Liverpool O2 Academy
Support Band: Django Django, Miles Kane, Palma Violets, Peace