Monday 22/03/04 Space @ Carling Academy 2, Liverpool

1996 is a long time ago.  Back then Britannia was cool; Gazza was still playing for England and Blur and Oasis were battling it out for Britpop supremacy. Since then Princess Di’s died, Guitar music has snuffed it and been reborn, Gigwise has arrived…and Space are still releasing records.

Hopefully not for much longer.

After a band has ‘been away’ for as long as Space seemingly have, it’s easy to forget just how inept an act they are. Having had a quick listen to their Magnus Opus ‘Spiders’ before coming out, Gigwise was actually looking forward to an evening of kitsch nostalgia.  What Gigwise should have done was stay in, play the album and write a review on that instead; as it would have been much, much better.

All hopes of a nice bouncy, bouncy karaoke stylee sing-a-long are shattered with the realisation that Tommy can’t actually sing!.  Coupled with the fact that keys-man Franny – resplendent in cabaret headset - looks like a reject from a Butlin’s version of Kraftwerk; I never thought I’d say a band miss a short arse ginger, but they do – and Jamie’s presence is needed more onstage than at the bar.

On they plough through lowlights of their finest hour – ‘Mr Psycho’ – and god awful new songs such as ‘Perverts’ (a contender for Worst Song…Ever!™)  – even the assembled 500 members of extended-family look, well, ill.  Do they have any idea how bad it is? Or is it assumed time is a healer?  Probably the latter, as their previous contender for Worst Song…Ever!™ , ‘Dark Clouds’ is 'knowingly' punk’d up to make it even ****ing worse!

It’s not all diabolical though – ‘Female of the Species’, ‘Me & You vs. The World’ and ‘Neighbourhood’ ARE long-lost pop gems… but that’s just it – it all now seems a long, long time ago.  With a different band, newies ‘Zombies’ and ’20 Million Miles from Earth’ could’ve offered some hope, but nothing to worry ground control too much.

Photos by Stuart Antrobus