Friday 6th May
The venue, Ashbrooke Cricket Club. This was the third time that I had attended a gig here, in the Ditchburn Suite. The first band to hit the stage was James and the Wolf, a four piece band. Energetic and heavy on guitar and drums. They played quite a short set of around 4 songs, to the good size crowd which had, by now, gathered. I would definitely recommend giving them a listen, and I'll be sure to catch them live again.
The second band of the night was Young Liar, an instrumental five piece hailed by NARC magazine as 'The Best Band in Newcastle'. By the end of the first track, the audience was really going mad. The second song had a really interesting, hypnotic beat that automatically induced mass head-nodding and foot-tapping. While listening to them I was reminded of 'My Bloody Valentine', yet 'It's Your IQ That's In Danger', had a hint of mid-era New Order. As I glanced around the room, it was hard to see anyone standing still. I felt the music these lads played was uniquelly different to any thing else around right now, but just what you want to boogie to. If you get the chance to see Young Liar live - take it! You really won't be disappointed.
It was gone 10 o'clock and time for the main attraction. After a 12 day tour of Europe, headliners Coal Train were back on home territory and wasn't I pleased. Opening with 'Wish List', it was great to see them rejuvenated and full of energy. Especially frontman, Richard Amundsen, who had been off his feet for a while after a sporting injury. Not that you would ever have known from the way he was bouncing all over the stage! Their second track, last years' single release 'Building Dens' is one of my favourites and it was going down great with the rest of the room. By this point, the crowd had all moved forward and were very receptive. The next song 'Black Dog', was requested and Richard announced that although they played it on tour they hadn't played it in Sunderland for some time.
For the next track, John Beattie left the familiar comfort of his keyboard and picked up a guitar. This I thought amazing as I had never witnessed this before. This was an instrumental track called 'Karma of Fractures', quickly followed by another new number, both of which went down really well with the audience, as it would appear that everyone gathered were big Coal Train fans. Richard went on to dedicate the next track 'Eight Hours', to Lake Poets, Martin Longstaff and his girlfriend, Laura, for their help that evening. The final song of the evening was new single 'Carry You on My Shoulders'. This track, although starting slower paced, once again had the hardcore fans nodding along in time to the music. I have to say, although I am a massive fan of the band, and have seen them live many times, this for me was their best gig yet. If you haven't listened to Coal Train, get on board! Check them out on Myspace, Soundcloud or Last FM, and be prepared to be blown away.
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