I Lost It A Little Bit...

Unlike Chiara I spent the entire summer holiday gig starved. So it was a great relief when finally last week I got to break my shameful abstinence and got myself down to Brighton for some live music. Even better, I was taking my wonderful girlfriend to her first gig. Even better, it was Reuben.

So first things first, support bands. According to everyone else there were sound problems with Enjoy Destroy that made their vocalist sound weird. However I was wearing earplugs and had no such problems. It's one of the reasons I always wear them at gigs - not only do earplugs protect your hearing (tinitus pisses me off no end) but it actually clarifies the sound by removing most of the sound that bounces around off the walls. In short everything sounds much better and you can hear the next day. Anyway, Enjoy Destroy prved themselves definately ones to listen out for. Sounding like an English Jimmy Eat World and although they're young and a little inexperienced on the stage there's some good potential there

Kill Kenada are a little disappointing. It's good streaight up rock, really well performed but they kinda failed to set me tingling. Not sure why

So onto the main event. I've seen Reuben live twice before and they are without a doubt one of my favourite bands but tonight they are on form. From start to finish for 16 songs over the space of a single hour they are utterly midblowing, delivering material from their new album 'In Nothing We Trust' as well as some older fan favourites. That soiunds like the sort of thing you hear in a lazy NME review so i'll try to put it into more detail.

Two minutes into opener Suffocation of the Soul there is an outcry. Almost every person in the crowd is singing along at what can can only be described as a climactic moment. Not just singing it, but engaging in it. Surrendering to it. All this to a short section of a seven minute song that 2 months ago nobody there had heard before.

To say this sets the tone for the evening is an understatement.

The new songs sound fantastic. ' We're All Going Home In An Ambulence', 'Agony/Agatha' and all whip the crowd into a frenzy. Despite being a small band whose new album is only a couple of months old these songs not only sound great but get a rapturous reception, even inamongst older songs ranging from live favourites 'Lights Out' and 'Everytime A Teenager Listens To Drum And Bass A Rockstar Dies', to some of the less poppy first album tracks such as 'Fall Of The Bastille'. There's even a bit of a nod to older fans with an airing of an early Reuben classic in the shape of 'Crimson'.

Yet the visceral, distorted passionate and complex rock songs Reuben have made their trademark are tempered at times beautifully by ssome starkly emotional slower numbers. 'Nobody Loves You' and In Nothing We Trust highlight 'Good Luck' with people standing enraptured, singing along to every word as if they have connected them and the feelings behind them as if they are burned into their very souls.

By the time set closer 'A Short History Of Nearly Everything' rings out I was left with the impression that this was what a gig was truly about. Not just sharing a performance or the songs, but the feelings behind them with a packed room full of people going through exactly the same things every day.

I'm biased i'll admit - I love this band with a passion as all those who know me will testify but this is the thing with Reuben. They inspire such passion in their fans that such feelings and atmosphere are possible. And this is what makes them, and this particular show so goddamned special.

Want to know more? I was lucky enough to meet the band beforehand and grab an interview with them. We also managed to tape it so watch this space for CUR1350'd very first video interview very very soon. You even get to see my face in it you lucky people!