Cobra Starship + Sing It Loud + Cash Cash + Mimi Saywer @ Birmingham Academy 2 – 23rd May 2009
Tonight kicks off with Mimi Sawyer, an electro orientated indie pop rock band, girl fronted and pretty tame. These guys weren’t so suited to the gig tonight, so although they played a solid set of whatever it is they called their genre it didn’t go down so well. Partly the fault of the early start, but mostly due to the young fan base of the headliners.
Next up were Cash Cash, who sounded an awful like the amazingly unpopular Metro Station, but went down like a house on fire. Clearly a good thing as far as most of the crowd was concerned, as most of them pushed their way forward screaming the lyrics back to the band. Admittedly each song only seemed to have two lines in it, along with a very similar structure, so all felt very boring after a while. It seems that young people like this kind of thing, which makes me worry about how old I’m getting.
Sing It Loud, all the same kinda of stuff as Cash Cash, but with a slightly more mature structuring, don’t have the same effect. Obviously the extra maturity is lost on an audience so young. The songs show signs of real inventiveness as the overlay of guitar and keys intertwines melodically. Wonderful vocal harmony also adds to the impressive effect. While it all becomes a little too bubblegum pop at times, it’s a vast improvement on Cash Cash.
Finally, Cobra Starship stroll on stage, to earsplitting screams from the effeminate audience. Gabe Saporta laps up the attention, his charisma shining through the haze of sweat. It is this man that really sums up Cobra Starship, their hip New York style and the music they play. They kick things off with the anthemic ‘The City Is At War’ before tearing through track after track of classic tracks from both albums. There are a few slight niggles though. The short rant about ‘digital punk rock’ is a little tiresome, especially as it hasn’t changed since their last tour. The crowd lap it up however, singing the words back as loud as the PA can pump them hot. Songs like ‘The Church of Hot Addiction’ and ‘Kiss My Sass’ really hit the mark with the feverish crowd. The Encore is something quite special, with the guitarist/keyboardist coming out solo, and building the track from the ground up. While it’s all rather easy to record and loop melodies live, these tricks do look pretty cool, layering synth over synth until Gabe returns to the stage to finish of the show. Typically the band end on the big hit ‘Bring It (Snakes on a Plane)’ but no-one here is complaining. The band promise and deliver a set of great dancing songs. No-one leaves that isn’t sweating.
Review – Terra Duff
Photos – Craig Thompson