Wednesday 11/06/03 Future Kings of Spain, Cosmic Rough Riders @ Barfly, Liverpool

"I'll scream and scream until I'm sick", who said that? Well tonight, it was the turn of Joey Wilson, the angst-laden singer of Dublin boys The Future Kings of Spain. If you're feeling a little dicky, it's probably not wise to start your set off with two blasts of screaming, shouting and pummelling hardcore action. This is precisely what occurs however, and it could only be so long before the cracks started to appear following this pressure cooker of an introduction. The next (and final) two tracks are classic pop songs in the "early 90's American rockers playing The Cure" mould, which screams Dinosaur Jr as a huge influence. As soon as it's started however, it's over. As Joey looks a bit confused, stops playing and staggers off stage mid song, there's an air of confusion in the Barfly, but don't worry - he'd been feeling unwell all day. A shame it had to finish really, as things had just started to get interesting.

Cosmic Rough Riders have been through hard times themselves. Following the success of the Alan McGee backed 'Enjoy The Melodic Sunshine' album, they were destined for great things. Then lead singer Daniel Wylie and the band parted company, leaving the remaining four members to go it alone. With Stephen Fleming taking over lead vocals, they're about to release a new album.

If there is one thing that you can't fault these guys for, it's their harmony vocals. Pitch perfect and high in the mix, it really is a joy to behold. Unfortunately the same can't be said for the rest of the performance. It feels at times like the Riders are putting their toes in the water with this reduced line-up, and the confidence that you might expect from a band going places just isn't in the air. While the crowd lap up old favourites like 'The Pain Inside' and 'Revolution (In The Summertime)', a lot of the new songs don't come across as well on their first hearing. The exception to that rule is the instant, McCartney-like 'There's Nothing Wrong', a particularly fine slice of Glaswegian pop. Fans of Byrdsian, harmony laden, sunshine filled songs are recommended to check out the new album 'Too Close To See Far'.

Photos by Sakura Henderson :: sakura@gigwise.com