Opening up for any headliner is an unenviable task at the best of times, the early start, the uninterested crowd and when you're a fledgling band on the road with The Rifles, as vibrant onstage as the fans are off, its a task which definitely sorts the men from the boys. Sadly The Maybes are far to timid to shine one their own merit.
They make it through a handful of pretty standard rock 'tunes' before embarking on a completely leftfield danceable number (a la The Music) that the previous twenty minutes seems even more redundant. It doesn't give me any pleasure to describe them as a schizophrenic band with zero personality worth caring about unfortunately.
The Rifles on the other hand have attitude, desire and and tunes dripping from their every pore and the wherewithal to put it all together on stage. Airing their debut album and a few new songs it's the more familiar numbers which shine of course. 'She's Got Standards', 'Peace & Quiet' and 'One Night Stand' are all particularly sublime as Academy 2 does it's very best to burst at the seams with a vigorously up-for-it crowd - it seems slight to choose a few songs from the set tonight as they are pretty much faultless throughout. There's plenty of interplay with the crowd - indeed the band seem surprised at the devoted reception they're getting - but they're damn entertaining so there's no mystery.
There's some pretty raucous dancing too, the kind which sees the first dozen rows pressed hard against the barriers and gasping for air. It's not often that a gig leaves you this breathless (literally) it really feels like there are bigger things on the verge of happening for The Rifles and seeing them get an overwhelmingly positive response is just the start.
www.myspace.com/therifles
www.mekongdelta.co.uk
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