Live Review

You Me At Six – Carling Academy 2, Newcastle

• 1st Jul 2008

You know you must be doing a hell of a lot right to completely sell out your U.K. tour on the back of only two limited single releases. But the fact the frontman of You Me At Six is barely old enough to legally toast such successes makes it even more of a staggering achievement, and on tonight’s showing, fully deserved.

Academy 2 is awash with emos, but no slit wrists or suicide cults could be seen – sorry Daily Mail, must be due to the fact you’re talking absolute bollocks. Instead an air of anticipation from the enthused teens filled the room just in time for Tonight Is Goodbye to take to the stage.

Armed with a similar sound and set-up as the headliners, the London lads were predictably lapped up with their endless energy making it impossible to begrudge and with killer songs like ‘Black Dress’, ‘Brain’ and ‘Your Tune’ so easy to love. Shamelessly promoting their new mini-album at any given opportunity, the quintet have the right drive and attitude to emulate You Me At Six’s rapid rise to prominence.

Although the relentless MySpace posts and dogged self-promotion has certainly helped You Me At Six fill the venues, it’s their enviable knack of offering the freshest and most delicious pop-punk platter that has really enticed so many die-hard disciples to worship the Surrey fivesome. Kicking off with ‘Gossip’ lead singer Josh Franceschi instantly displayed what an accomplished vocalist he really is. Whipping up the crowd wasn’t difficult as the excitement was already bordering on hysterical, but Franceschi pushed them over the edge as he cavorted round the stage with such confidence.

With New Found Glory emblazoned on the frontman’s T-shirt, showing one of the many huge bands You Me At Six have already toured with, it’s really not that dramatic to say that theses young upstarts have all the credentials to replicate such a band. Mammoth anthems ‘You’ve Made Your Bed’ and ‘If I Were In Your Shoes’ sound even more essential live and with their sound as tight as a Scottish Jew, they really can do no wrong. A sneaky peek of their upcoming debut album was also served up, with one song so instantly lovable the anticipation for the release was cranked up even higher.

Finishing with the awesome ‘Save It For The Bedroom’ then closer ‘The Rumour’, You Me At Six showed that sometimes you really should believe the hype.