The Moons - Gig Review by Ben

This review of The Moons is written by another SFR DJ: Ben. 
You can find Ben on Twitter as @BenAdlam and also on the SFR page here: http://sfrstudios.com/ben/
You can find The Moons on Twitter as @MoonsOfficial ( I wasn't following The Moons until i read ben's review - I am now!)

The Moons.
93 Feet East, Brick Lane, London.
12th September 2012

Last night found me in the middle of curry mile in London's Brick Lane to watch The Moons at 93 Feet East.

Unperturbed by the smell of vomit and urine by the ticket office, or indeed the over zealous ticket girl who had to find my name on a list even when I'd produced my ticket, I ventured into the fairly large venue to watch opening act The Kumari.

Full of verve and vigour the tore through a set that was as slick as the lead singers quiff, a good opener with solid tunes (even if their best song was a The Kinks/The Hives hybrid rip-off - or should I be kind and say "homage") I'll be looking out for them in future but there appears to be and American goth band of the same name which makes finding out about them a little tedious.

After a quick change over it was the turn of Mucky Pups to take the stage, their first tune was very promising, a kind of Strokes sound with a bit of Johnny Marr guitar over the top. Unfortunately it was fairly indiscernible from the rest of the set. They appear to have found a sound they like and repeated ad infinitum. The rhythm section was solid and powerful and I think the drummer is far better than the rest of the band.

Another quick change and it was the turn of the new line-up moons to take the stage, new members Chris (guitar) and Ben (bass) certainly looking the part alongside Andy (guitar/vocals), Tom (keys and cowbell) and Ben (drums). The crowd had certainly thickened out and tentatively made their way closer to the stage with a wide range of ages present, the broad appeal of The Moons was obvious to see, what's less obvious to me is why they are not bigger than they are, maybe the days of proper song craft have passed by again and the off the shelf punk pop of The Vaccines has become de rigour, it baffles me.

Opening with two songs from the forthcoming Fables of History album, Forever Came Today and Revolutionary Lovers demonstrated the fuller, harder and less innocent sound we can expect from the new album. The last single Double Vision Love was up next and went down a storm with the crowd along with singalong favourite Everyday Heroes. Even with Andy struggling with an obviously very sore throat the crowd were certainly on his side and helped him out.

The new band members were certainly on their game with Chris adding some very cool West Coast sounding guitars to Promise Not To Tell and How Long. My personal favourite, and a lot of the crowds too by the volume of singing, English Summer was up next, a song that carries on a tradition of the storming b-side, a Beatleseque ode to our favourite topic of conversation. Debut single Torn Between Two was followed by two more new tracks Can You See Me and the fantastic Something Soon with driving rhythm and chopped guitars it reminded me of The Jam and the fact that Paul Weller had a hand in the song was plain to see. Chinese Whispers really rattled the crowds bones as always and the set closed with an instant classic from Fables Of History the shout along It's Taking Over. 

The band left the stage very briefly before the strepsilled Andy returned with his acoustic guitar for current single Jennifer (Sits Alone). But not before introducing a clearly embarrassed Jennie to the crowd and urging us all to watch the box fresh video for the song on YouTube (which I duly did and was well worth the effort - get on it!).

The rest of the band rejoined the stage for elongated versions of Nightmare Day, with a stunning "get back into bed" refrain, and closing song Don't Go Changing which left the crowd sweating and happy. 

The band then signed copies of their singles, the CD and rather sexy White Vinyl of Fables Of History which are available to pre-order from Amazon and iTunes (released on 24th October) and at the rest of the dates on the tour.

I'm not sure if I agree with the sentiment of Don't Go Changing because if last night was anything to go by changing is definitely a good thing.

There is a light that will never go out.

Ben.