Live Review

Officer Kicks – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

• 26th Oct 2009

It’s a mad rush at Shepherd’s Bush Empire. And when you have 3 supporting acts in one night you know time is going to be an issue. And although that means the main act starts a lot later than you would usually expect, it also means that the support are ushered on stage pronto!

Officer Kicks have drawn the short straw here by being first on stage, literally 10 minutes after the doors are open. In 10 minutes the queue will hardly have gone down, let along giving people a chance to store a jacket and even buy a drink, So the whilst there are some people here to show some crowd support to the band, they truly deserved a bit better than this, and it would have been accomplished if they got to take to the stage perhaps 10 minutes later.

But we can’t change the way these things go, and the lead appears to be aware of this as he throws out his thanks to those that are arriving. As a live act they score points for the effort they put into their show. They have played stages this size before, so they know how to utilise the space and how to project to the crowd.

The other bonus is that their music is likeable, with the right backing and picking some intuitive places to play in the future (not to forget some of the rock festivals) then Officer Kicks could be headlining their places in no time.