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Support bands have two main purposes: one: to benefit themselves – is to get people excited about their own music; two: for the benefit of the headliner – is to pump up the crowd for the main act. Ali Love unfortunately disappoint on both fronts. On paper, Ali and his band work – electro influenced indie rock that seems to be oh so fashionable at the moment. However, something is lost in the translation to actual live music. The band don’t seem particularly interested in playing, nor are the crowd that bothered about hearing them, which is slightly irritating as tracks such as ‘Rock n Roll Control’ could be performed with so much more force, and would guarantee a crowd hanging on their every note.
A band who does have such stage presence is of course Boy Kill Boy. Unfortunately, and rather surprisingly, they are playing to an unfairly thin crowd. Maybe it was bad publicity or the fact that it was raining, but it seems that no one up North has cottoned on to the fact that BKB are great when they play live. Following on from a superb performance at Reading and Leeds, the band confirm that they can amaze more intimate crowds as well. Taking to the stage and launching straight into album opener ‘Back Again’ without a single cringey “hi we’re boy kill boy and we’ve come to entertain you” type comment shows that this band need no introduction.
Although not one of the strong moments on the album, second number ‘Killer’ gets the crowd even more fired up – a peak of excitement which doesn’t cease until the band go slightly overboard with the slow, sentimental songs. Unsure of whether to get out their lighters or just sway in unison, everyone’s somewhat uninspired by some of the slower new material. But the energy levels soon pick up as first release and biggest hit ‘Suzie’ is launched into, with its instantly recognisable guitar riff and pounding drum beat. You may wonder how anything can follow this three minute slice of indie rock genius, but BKB are no one trick pony, and they finish the set to rapturous applause. See them live and you won’t be disappointed – no crowd for such a fantastic live band should ever be so sparse again.
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