Wednesday 25/10/06 The Cooper Temple Clause @ The Barfly, Liverpool

It had been well over two years since The Cooper Temple Clause had graced a stage in Liverpool, and although this year there were considerably less haircuts in the crowd than in 2004, it was plain to see that those loyal fans whom loved them for their music rather than those who thought it was cool to like them were in excited anticipation to see their heroes once again.

In charge of opening tonight’s proceedings were Battle. Four public school boys too late for the art rock movement that Bloc Party had sired last year, took the stage after starting extremely late, and had to play to a crowd that had absolutely no time for such a contrived, lifeless band. On stage they were pathetic, rehearsed and lacked any life that a band needs to gain fans, especially fans of a band that have created the most original sound in years. ‘Isabelle’ and ‘Easy To Listen To’ had their moments, but don’t expect to hear anything from them after they release their debut.

It was then down to business. The Cooper Temple Clause walked on stage with their heads held high as a five piece, and although there were chants of “Where the **** is Didz?” they appreciated the crowds loyalty kicking off with ‘Promises Promises’ and filling the venue with the vitriolic ferocity that rescued the night. New single ‘Homo-Sapiens’ went down like a classic, with most of the venue singing along (if their ears still worked that is) “I am a man/I am a superstar” being chanted throughout the Masque as if it was the national anthem. It was absolutely breathtaking, with the Coopers playing classic after classic pounding out ‘Been Training Dogs’ , ‘Same Mistakes’, the brilliant ‘New Toys’ and new songs ‘Damage’ and the aptly titled ‘Waiting Game’ featuring Dan on lead vocals hammering out their newest anthem to rival that of ‘Blind Pilots’.

The crowd was loving every second, every chord and every bleep of sound emanating from the stage. The Coopers could not put a step wrong tonight, chatting with the crowd, appreciating the little mosh pit that had formed during the raucous ‘A.I.M.’ and thanking the punters for their support personally. In not pushing their new album so much that it became annoying, was a clear indication that the band wanted reaffirm that they are a driving force in music today and that their back catalogue/arsenal of tunes could still stand the test of time. Finishing off with ‘Blind Pilots’ and ‘Who Needs Enemies’, The Cooper Temple Clause promised to be back within a few months along with their newest album ‘Make This Your Own’, lets just hope we can wait that long for our hearing to be blown away again.