Last Month (30th May) saw one of my most anticipated gigs for a while – Editors at Brixton Academy in London, the first night of a 3 night run at the venue.

After getting there 10 minutes before doors opened, I was expecting the queue to be round the block, but thankfully it wasn’t, and we managed soon to get right at the front of the stage on the barrier, on the speaker stack at the left. 7:30 soon rolled round and ¡Forward, Russia! took to the stage. Whilst not my sort of thing exactly, I can see what all the fuss in the press is about – I think that they’ll be massive like Biffy Clyro have become (though I do hope that they learn to name their songs a bit more adventourously – their tracks do all begin to sound quite similar after a short time to me and with numbers as names it gets very confusing!)

Next up at 8:20 were the brilliant The National. I downloaded “The National – Alligator” mid last year and made it my album of the year. They mostly played tracks off their new album, and played live they had a much more depth and character to their sound, with the prominence of the violin and liveliness of their lead singer. Their set was brilliant, and I did my best to get tickets for their Wednesday night gig at Koko, however just couldn’t – it seems everyone seems to like them at the moment! Highlights were Lit Up, Mr. November (and its rousing “I won’t fuck us over, I’m Mr. November” chorus) and Daughters of the Soho Riots.

When they finished we had a 1/2 hour wait before Editors arrived, and took much amusement at the roadies using more duct tape than probably necessary – many things were duct taped twice which was amusing. The band arrived and blasted into “Someone Says” with much gusto – indeed, the first three tracks wizzed by, until new track Bones which sounds like an absolute gem and fits right in. As the tracks progressed, they bought out a huge glitter ball for “Weight of The World” which was pretty spectacular. The encore of “Road to Nowhere” and “Fingers in the factories” were both equally amazing, with fingers particuarly getting the crowd going. However, a downside was that some of the songs start to sound a bit samey, and repetitive – might just be me, but whilst the tracks are brilliant, after a while they start to sound the same. They played a rather extensive setlist, with a wide range of tracks from their album, B-sides and new songs, complete with a cover of Talking Heads’ “Road To Nowhere”

Someone Says
All Sparks
Blood
Bones
Fall
Weight Of The World
Bullets
Safe Place
Release
Camera
Fading
Munich
Open Your Arms
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Lights
Road To Nowhere
Fingers in the Factories

Tom and co seemed to be totally into it, with Tom particuarly giving out lots of energy. Loved the way towards the end he said “This is the end of the “Backroom” tour, we’re going to go away and record a new album that will make you feel a bit happier than this one did” or something to that effect – he seemed like a genuinely nice, good, lead singer.