A wet evening in Wolverhampton sees me returning to KK’s Steel Mill, this time in the smaller room, to catch Jamie Lenman on this stop of his current tour in support of his latest album “The Atheist” and ep “iknowyouknowiknow”.
I have to admit that I never made it in time to catch the opening act “The Sunset Limited” so this is a gratuitous shout out to them.
The first act of the night (for me at least) was “Wax Futures“, a 3 piece band that come from my hometown of Telford. Described by themselves as ‘The best thing out of Telford since the M54. Slacker post-hardcore pop nonsense” they certainly can make a decent noise.
This is my first time seeing and hearing the Telford Trio, and both I like. The sound is big, loud, in your face and they have a great stage presence about them, and those who have braved the drizzle to come to tonight’s gig seem to be enjoying it too, plenty of dancing & headbanging going on. It is a shame that the sound inside this part of the venue is a little unbalanced, it was hard to make out the vocals at times but it didn’t to seem to bother most and it didn’t detract much from their performance. I’d have to say my pick of song from their set has to be “(My Body Is A) Landfill”
Having just had a listen to their bandcamp page I can hear hints of Nirvana, Placebo, Early Foos……. they certainly wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the late 90s/early 2000s, definitely one band to keep watching to see where they go as they have potential and clearly enjoy doing what they do.
After a quick stage change around, and a quick trip outside to cool down (it was quite a sweatbox in there tonight) it was time for Jamie Lenman. I have seen Jamie a few times, and each time it has been just him and his very energetic, hard hitting drummer Jack, with Jamie being another of the few acts that provide guitar and bass in one go (utilising a very clever little additional pickup), if you had your eyes closed you would have no idea that there was only two of them on stage.
This tour, however, he is joined by a second guitarist/vocalist, Jen. This extra guitar added an extra dynamic and with everything complimenting each other so well.
The set consisted of playing the latest album “The Atheist” in full, which meant that it kicked of with the track “This Is All There Is” and it’s a solid opening track, starting off hitting hard before breaking into a really funky, catchy chorus. Sounds as good live as it does on the album.
More from the album (well, the whole album) was to come, with songs like “Talk Hard”, “Hospital Tree”, “Deep Down”, it’s an album that really shows Jamie’s ability to pen well written songs in a variety of styles (just check his YouTube video for Fizzy Blood // Pretty Please) that is one reason that Jamie is a well loved musician. The crowd tonight were in fine voice and had no issues with singing along with every song that came their way.
In-between songs there was plenty of interaction with the crowd, very rarely any dead air, with Jamie sharing stories from the tour so far (such as playing for 50 people in Blackpool), a story about some badly stored Reuben t-shirts sold at 2000 trees and showing plenty of love for his bandmates and the people who had come to see him tonight. Jamie is certainly an entertainer in all aspects (and boy can he talk fast).
After the album had been played some fan favourites from previous releases were met with a huge reaction, with everyone joining in on the chorus of “Hardbeat” (one of my favourite tracks), “Television Is Not Your Life” and “Adamantium Rage” to name a few.
The crowd in Wolverhampton tonight certainly left the show happy, I wouldn’t say content as I’m sure that we would have all enjoyed an extended set, hopefully Jamie will return again soon.
The tour continues on 10th May in Milton Keynes with more dates following, which can be seen on the official Jamie Lenman Facebook page.
