Friday 04/07/08 The Music, Exit Calm @ Astoria, London

There is an early curfew tonight, so with ‘Criminal Justice’ on record, it’s an early start all round. The crowd is raucous by the time Robert Harvey’s gang arrive on stage and the cheers turn into delirium when the first few chords of ‘Take The Long Road…’ are struck. The set list is faultless including the highlights of their new LP alongside a smattering from albums one and two. ‘The Spike’ and ‘Drugs’ are played as silhouettes, illuminated by a single yellow lamp in the middle of the stage. Harvey’s hushed fast-paced vocal gives a broody, sinister feel that we haven’t seen before. The Music have grown up.

Ask anybody about this band and they’ll tell you the same thing. “Oh, The Music, they’re first album was class, but then they went a bit shit didn’t they?” Formed in 1999, the band led music lovers and critics into frenzy with their self-titled debut – a fusion of rave and guitar it seemed they could do no wrong. An average second album combined with well-documented problems both on and off the stage, meant the lads from Kippax slowly slipped off the radar. Thankfully, wounds have healed.

‘The People’ still sounds razor sharp, as does the euphoric sing along ‘The Truth Has No Words,’ whereas ‘Welcome To The North’ somehow sounds better than it did four years ago. Harvey is comfortable on stage again – bowling from side-to-side in his trackies he could be off to college, but then there is no pretence. Adam Nutter is now seriously flourishing on guitar – perhaps a little overproduced on the LP – live he manages to sound polished and raw at the same time.

The biggest tune of the night is recent single ‘Strength In Numbers,’ pleasing because it means that people are here for new as well as old. The close is now a signature and is simply stunning. A stomping version of ‘Getaway’ leads into all four-band members on the drums for an extended version of ‘Bleed From Within.’ There’s no encore. There doesn’t need to be.

Completing their support stint on this tour were Exit Calm, who seemed at great pains to dispel their crowds early buzz.  Fellow Yorkshire folk, their bass heavy intros set up Stain’d-like anguished vocals on the breakdown and although fresh from the ‘BBC Introducing Stage’ at Glastonbury, their tales of living in a satellite town were far too much hard work this early in the evening. 

In the past year, we have seen many bands reform, some have re-found their touch and others have simply topped up their pensions, but this tale isn’t over. The Music never split up, they just had a break and they could be the surprise of the year.