Friday 18/06/04 The Subways, The Priscillas, Rose Kemp @ The Croft, Bristol

Ok, so technically The Subways aren’t actually headlining tonight, but with excitement growing (albeit slightly hushed) for the North London trio, they may as well be.

Rose Kemp begins proceedings, with what can only be described as a beautiful performance. It’s just a shame that some people have decided to stay in the bar. Although those who’ve made the effort can feel very smug that they’ve got to see someone very special. If you haven’t heard of her, take PJ Harvey and give her even more gutsy depth, with a little more soul and you're kind of getting there. As such it’s likely you’ll be hearing her name quite a bit more often in the future.

So having got off to a flying start, The Priscillas are somewhat of a disappointment. The four girls, who are fantastically dressed up (complete with bouffant wigs), definitely add a bit of colour and vibrancy to the night... but not much else. To be fair, the crowd loves them (have I missed something?). They do put on a great stage show, but something’s not quite right. If you can, imagine watching the Sex Pistols do a cover of ‘The Time Warp’. Musically they’re not bad, but it’s just too much and the novelty soon wears off.

By the time The Subways take to the stage, the place is pretty full and so it should be.  Made up of drummer Josh Morgan, guitarist and lead singer Billy Lunn and bassist Mary-Charlotte Cooper, it’s not hard to be impressed with the instant stage presence they create. They know they are going to be big and best of all, aren’t embarrassed about it. With a quick acknowledgement of the crowd they jump into first song ‘You Got Me’. It’s bright, bashy and definitely an indicator of what’s to come. Like a vigoruous update (and improvement) on The Vines, they kick into second song ‘City Pavement’ thrashing about on stage, playing with an incredible urgency – as if they’ve finally mastered a new song and are desperate for other people to hear it for the first time.

The middle of the set particularly stands out. Song ‘Mary’ sees the band add a welcome touch of The Specials to their performance. Next up is ‘I Think I’m In Love’ which is surely gonna be the song they’ll break through with – and you can see why they’ve chosen it as the first single. It will get them noticed and for all the right reasons, it makes the most of Billy’s screeching vocals, the manic but perfectly timed drums and the steadiness of the bass line.

Another standout track towards the end of the performance is ‘Oh Yeah’, which will definitely strike a chord with angst-ridden teenagers who need something to jump around their room to. By the time they finish with 'Rock'n'Roll Queen', most of the audience are physically exhausted, but still the drained crowd are left wanting more.

With so much hype surrounding so many bands at the moment it’s hard to believe they’ll all live up to expectations. The Subways do though, and will. 16-year-olds will love 'em and the slightly older generation won’t think they’re bad either, lets just hope they manage to transfer the live show to record.

Photo by Polly Weeks