LIFE, Faux Pas, Turbulence, Idle Lies: Phase One, Liverpool

LIFE are back in town after starring on last year’s main stage at Sound City, and Getintothis’ Steven Doherty is down the front.

Getintothis’ has had the calculator out and has worked out the first time we saw LIFE was at the Zanzibar in the midst of Sound City back in 2014.

And to our eternal shame, we’ve not seen them since, so excited we are.

But before all that, there’s another three bands to see.

Well make that two and a half.

Due to police roadblocks, we were sadly unable to enjoy the full Idle Lies experience, but the half we did see was a jangly pop vibe, pleasant enough, but when they cut loose on their final song, the Burn Baby Burn-esque vibes of Back To The Future, it really suits them, more noisier tunes please.

Turbulence are unusually from Ellesmere Port, and they’ve brought both a crowd and a dry ice machine.

They strike us as Feeder without the choruses, a few near misses of glory with their widescreen windblown tunes, until they hit the mark with their corker of a latest single Camden.

With both that and new song Honestly, hopefully this means they are on the right track, even though they could do with losing the histrionics on set closer Higher Ground.

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Some questions go through our mind as the next band take to the stage.

Why hasn’t anyone else used Faux Pas, as it’s a great name for a band?

And whatever happened to Placebo?

As indebted as Turbulence were to Grant Nicholas et al, Faux Pas have a look and feel of the Molko about them (but, you know, early on, when Placebo were amazing).

Faux Pas are a blistering ball of noisy fun.

They are another band who’s just released their best track recently as a single, this time in the shape of That’s My Ego, the best attempt at catching their live ferociousness on record so far.

Lovely stuff from them mid-set, where the whole band stop and freeze on stage, except the drummer who jumps offstage, gets one audience member to stand at the front and implores a previously shy audience to go forward.

It works. That’s how to do it.

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LIFE look a little bit disappointed initially with the turnout, it’s a big room, but it’s not that full, yet not that empty.

Frontman Mez is up for it from the off, like a lither, younger Eddie Argos, even though some of his dance moves leave something to be desired.

We get the general impression that he’s enjoyed a cold drink or two this evening, especially as he tries to introduce his exceptional bandmates at least three times, and announces that “We are called LIFE, we are from Hull” after pretty much every song, as if it’s the first time.

But no matter, as each and every song tonight is a snarky, tuneful vignette, proclaiming the bad things about modern life.

No preaching though, just pure, unadulterated joy and a catchy riff.

Lyric of the night comes early, “Keep hounding your doctor for intestinal checks” they holler on In Your Hands.

Quite.

Mez ends up in the crowd for big chunks of the set, at one with his people.

“I speak the language of the sheep” he screams before the non-sheep related Ba Ba Ba, every song now being treated like the single it should be.

They end with the mighty triumvirate of Bum Hour, Moral Fibre and Popular Music, and it leaves us to wonder how they aren’t massive.

Hopefully it’s just a matter of time.

Images by Getintothis’ Chris Everett

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