For many the Space and Republica
double header tour is all about nostalgia.
It’s an opportunity to relive the
good times from the late nineties by a certain type of music fan that
worshipped at the altar of top of the pops.
And of course that’s fine, but
within minutes of Republica taking to the stage it became very obvious that no
one had sent the band the memo outlining that they were to do a by the numbers
set.
Instead here they were storming
out of the gates and sounding as hungry as any band of young guns looking to
make a name for themselves.
It’s probably a bit of a surprise
to some that the pop element of the bands sound is left sitting in the backseat
while the punk attitude is put firmly up front and given the steering wheel,
and it must feel like a slap in the face.
The equivalent of being shook
hard while the band shouts in their faces that they need to wake up and smell
the coffee.
It’s pretty exhilarating to be
honest.
If the intent of the band was to blow
apart all the preconceived ideas that some may have held then they do it in
fine style.
The hits are played, but it doesn’t
sound like they do them to pacify anyone, but purely because there’s still
plenty of fuel in the materials tanks and they deserve to be set loose to burn
off some energy.
A common problem for bands that
are looking to make a return into the spotlight is that fans are very rarely appreciative
of their current endeavours and just want the hits of yesteryear to be played.
So when they try and introduce
anything circa now the set can grind horribly to a halt, but Republica effortlessly
managed to slip in songs from last years ‘Christiana Obey EP’ with no
noticeable blip in the energy flowing back and forth between them and the
crowd.
Not many bands can do that, and
it’s to their credit that they make it appear an easy task to carry out.
It was all a bit of a revelation
for me as I was there to see Space, but next time Republica come to town I’m
there, and I doubt I will be the only one.
Space are less of a nostalgic blast
from the past as they never really made an effort to fit into a specific era,
and instead just existed in their own little bubble of sound, a sound that isn’t
in or out of fashion, that doesn’t sound dated or even fresh for that matter,
it just is.
Space are simply just Space, and
it’s good to see them back.
It’s also very obvious from the
reaction of the sold out crowd that I am not alone in feeling that the balance
of the universe is now restored with the bands return.
With drive-in adverts playing on
what looked to be a large white sheet draped onto the back of Tuts wall, and a
countdown involved that gave us all a minute by minute update on when they were
due to appear, the excitement was ramped up a bit and then when they did step
up onto the stage it was to a heroes welcome.
Before a note had been struck the
band had already won a sizable portion of the crowd over.
And then it got better, and
better and better.
For portions of the show it was
like singalongaspace as everyone roared out the words to the familiar material
and gamely made the effort to mouth along to the songs from Attack of the
Mutant 50ft Kebab.
There was a bit of skanking, but
that may have just been me, but who cares as it was a sort of a let it all hang
out night by that point anyway.
Tommy getting down into the face
of the crowd to have them display their own vocal talents on Female of the Species
was enthusiastically received to the extent that when the band decided to do an
encore they did it all again.
A mate, Gerry Corr, was suitably
impressive as he sang out the refrain, and while I am very pleased that he
managed the grab the opportunity my chance of being picked up by a random music
scout was cruelly dashed when Tommy offered me the mic and a drunken fella
leaned in over my shoulder to ask if he could get the red wig from the stage.
Cue Tommy buggering off and my
chance was gone.
My dream of being plucked from
obscurity was stamped into the dusts and I was left with the understanding that
after the show I would have to return to me everyday life.
Heartbreaking!
Bloody heartbreaking!
Then again I’m a shit singer so
crushed fantasies aside I picked myself up and got back into it all.
You know those gigs that you just
want to go on for ever and ever?
This was one of them.
I’m still buzzing, and as first
nights of a tour goes, I think Space can consider that the bar has been set
high.
So bring on the rest of the tour,
a decent level of sales of the album, another album and another tour and
another album and another tour ad infinitum.
Photo by Amanda Robinson
