STEREOPHONICS / JOOLS HOLLAND RHYTHM & BLUES ORCHESTRA
Warwick University Students' Union
Yeah, it’s a strange bill alright. Tonight is the Fresher’s Ball at Warwick University and if anything is guaranteed to get the place jumping it’s Jools’ boogie-woogie R&B. It’s the kind of music you’d have to be a serious musical snob to object to, and if you did there were two or three people here who would seriously disagree with you. They rock as hard as anything else you’re ever likely to see, have amazingly fluid grooves and a seven-piece brass section which contains one of the greatest-bearded trombone players in the known universe. Sure, it doesn’t mean anything, maaan, has little emotional depth and all that bollocks, but that’s not why we’re here tonight, is it? We’re here to see Jools gurning whilst hammering out stride basslines with his left hand and cool tinkly bits with his right. This is what Ben Folds Five wish they sounded like. We’re even treated to an old Squeeze number, sung by Chris Holland (brother, in case you were wondering) and, unfortunately, a drum solo by a man in a string vest. When they leave the stage, it’s far too early.
No really, I mean it was TOO EARLY. This was end-of-night, out-of-your-face-dancing-stupidly music. It certainly was not the kind of thing I’d want to follow if I was in The Stereophonics.
Do we really need The Stereophonics? ‘A Thousand Trees’ was an OK single, in a kind of inoffensive daytime radio indie band way, and that’s exactly what The Stereophonics are- an OK, inoffensive daytime radio indie band. Sure, they’re tight and together, the singer has a decent voice, and they successfully replicate their records live, but the problem is that the records weren’t very interesting in the first place, and to continue the theme of badly attired drummers, this guy was wearing string-backed driving gloves. In a different setting, this band would probably be a fine headlining act, but tonight they inevitably disappoint.
