The Thrills have announced an October jaunt around the country (as has most of the UK music industry it seems). Tickets are on sale now from See Tickets. Catch them at:

Thursday 4th October - Oxford Carling Academy
Friday 5th October - Bristol trinity Centre
Monday 8th October - Peterborough The Cresset
Tuesday 9th October - London Koko
Thursday 11th October - Norwich Waterfront
Friday 12th October - Nottingham Trent Student
Saturday 13th October - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall
Sunday 14th October - Liverpool Carling Academy
Thursday 18th October - Manchester Club Academy
Sunday 21st October - Leeds Cockpit
Monday 22nd October - Northampton Soundhaus

So, last night I was lucky enough to catch The Thrills and Palladium at Scala in London. I’ve already written a quick bit on Palladium for Londonist (who gave me the free tickets), but now for The Thrills, a highlight of the month for me.

I caught The Thrills for the first time last month at the Millennium Dome, and loved their short set, and now I’ve finally got to see a full set I must say they’re a brilliant live band… full of energy, pizzaz and Conor sure knows how to work a crowd.

Working their way through all of the favourites and a lot of their new album, the guys from Ireland via America bought a tiny bit of summer to a rain swept London. Introducing new song “Restaurant” Connor jokes “This is the bit the whole band hates – I’m on rhythm guitar, holding it all together, and, well, my rhythm is non-existant”. Still, the track passes without a hitch. Undoubtedly the highlights of the evening are the ol’ classics “Big Sur”, “Santa Cruz”, “One Horse” and “Corey Haim”, however “Long Forgotten Song” definitely has the chance to join the favourites, sounding brilliant both on record and live.

After the jump find some pictures and the setlist. If anyone wants any of the pictures bigger just shout or leave a comment.
Read the rest of this entry »

“We’re proud to be able to play in one of Tony Blair’s legacies to the UK” David Kay of Tiny Dancers said of their chance to be one of the first bands to play the indigo2 at the former Millenium Dome.

One of the most state of the art venues in the UK Indigo2 is the smaller of two venues at the new O2 complex which comprises shops, bars and cinema as well as the 20,000 arena and the 2,500 capacity indigo2. A contender to the likes of Koko and Shepherds Bush, its small enough for it to be used as “club gigs” for big bands, and large enough for small bands to aim for.

Up in the balcony the venue looked distinctly like a cinema, with plush seats (complete with stewards to tell you to get them off the seat in front) and speakers throughout. However, it lacks the quirks of some older venues: Whilst the sound is simply superb, the place lacks some of the atmosphere that darker, dingier places like the Astoria have and makes them so loved.

For the first nights entertainment, AOL took it over for their “sessions”, which last night saw Tiny Dancers, The Thrills, Magic Numbers and Crowded House take to the stage. Tiny Dancers were first up, playing to a half empty venue, however soon got into the spirit of things, playing five songs. Highlight was “Hannah, We Know” which saw dancing lego people on the giant screens behind the stage.

The Thrills were next up, debuting new material from their forthcoming album “Teenagers” alongside old favourites “Santa Cruz”, “Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?” and “One Horse Town”. Conor Deasy went into showman mode pretty quickly, getting everyone clapping along. Their new material is a natural progression from previous two albums, summery and Irish-American tinged.

In between sets AOL showed some of their previous sessions, with Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini and Ghosts all making appearances. In between The Thrills and Magic Numbers the crowd were treated to a backstage set from Siobhán Donaghy, which showed off her beautiful voice perfectly. However, being shown on video screens just made the entire audience feel detached from the experience.

Magic Numbers provided more summery tunes, with Michelle and Romeo seemingly a bit more used to the stage compared to when this Londonista saw them back in early 2005. Songs like “Forever Lost” and “Love Me Like You” sounded not at all faded, and performed with as much gusto as if they were written yesterday.

Finally, the guys most of the crowd had been waiting for, Crowded House. Hurtling through their set at a decent speed, they were chatty and genial to the crowd, with the Ozzies commenting that “It feels like I’m playing the Bowling Club Social” in regards to the number of summer hats floating around the crowd that were given out free by AOL. On their slower tracks, Neil Finn was clearly peeved with the amount of talking the balcony was doing, commenting “Listen you bastards! You can talk tomorrow!” which was a very fair point.

Four sets in four hours is a decent speed for any venue, however it’s just a shame it hasn’t got any of the soul some of London’s better venues have. The bands meanwhile overcame any issues they may have had with the venue by putting in a thoroughly entertaining show for all.

Read the rest of this entry »