In an alternative (and a much better and nicer) universe, we would be on our way to one of Manchester’s two Arenas tonight to see Art Brut.
You see, back in 2005 if they would have only sold a handful (apparently they were just two short) more copies of single ‘Emily Kane’, they would have got a place in the Top 40, which would have led to them fulfilling their life’s ambition by appearing on (the still then relevant) Top Of The Pops. The nation would have seen this and collectively as a population fallen in love with them and they would still be filling enormo-domes to this day.
Alas, the record-buying public let us down big time and all of the above never happened, but it’s still an honour to be in the company tonight of a genuine national treasure of a band, fronted by one of indie’s greatest showmen, Eddie Argos. And they should be in a celebratory mood this evening, with this small UK tour in support of their recently released greatest hits opus, A Record Collection, Reduced to a Mixtape.
And it’s that rarest of things tonight for us of a certain age, a new venue that we’d never visited before, the glorious Pink room at YES, which turns out to be a perfect room to watch a band such as this.
The theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey welcomes the band to the stage and it’s clear too see that there’s something different about the band this evening. They seem to have a new guitarist. It turns out that Ian, their guitarist since their formation, has had to leave the tour and Charley Stone, formerly of many bands, has stepped in with just two days to learn all of the songs. That would throw many a band into disarray, but Art Brut seem to take it in their stride, now introducing themselves as “Art Brut from Berlin. And Exeter” before kicking straight into ‘Pump Up The Volume‘.
‘She Kissed Me (And It Felt Like A Hit)‘ with the first TOTP reference of the evening (“Keep going, don’t stop, I feel like I’m on Top Of The Pops”) is followed by an updated ‘My Little Brother’ , who, instead of the bootlegs and B-sides of the original is now listening to “You Tube playlists”.
Argos is the ringmaster. The whole gig revolves around him and his onstage chatter. In a different life he could have been a stand-up comedian, he is the Stewart Lee of indie-pop, genuinely hilarious in his tales, explaining that early single ‘Modern Art‘ is back in the set, as he can elongate it to anything up to 35 minutes. And that would mean that Stone could get away with learning less songs! It’s not quite that long tonight, but still an epic. He comes into the crowd, regaling us with tales of art galleries and committing his only mis-step of the evening, calling the peerless IDLES, “Coldplay with a gruff voice”, (but we’ll forgive him for that).
In typical Art Brut style, they follow this with a song about erectile dysfunction (what else!), with ‘Rusted Guns Of Milan‘ from debut album Bang Bang Rock & Roll. This acts as a breather to what was a mostly frantic set, but this is a temporary lull, with Bad Weekend merging into Demons Out!, both songs full of their trademark wit and self-deprecation, “Haven’t read the NME in so long, don’t know what genre we belong”.
There’s just about time for a riotous ‘Emily Kane‘ and later single ‘Wham! Bang! Pow! Let’s Rock Out!‘ before the line-up (including warm applause especially for Charley Stone, who was astounding tonight considering how much time she’s been with them) is introduced, with Argos leaving the stage before what he calls the “fake encore”.
This is the cue for the customary repeated chants from the very busy (and by now, sweaty) crowd of “Art Brut, Top Of The Pops”, which sees them return with debut single ‘Formed A Band’, which this writer has fond memories of buying the week it came out back in 2004. It serves as a reminder to what a band they are. They’ve never taken a wrong turn in 20 years, never let their audience down, always brilliant both live and on record.
“We’re gonna be the band that writes the song, That makes Israel and Palestine get along” feels like such a significant lyric tonight, even after all this time (please hurry up and do it) before a rare outing for ‘Unprofessional Wrestling’ and usual set-closer ‘Post Soothing Out’.
They may not have got the mega-stardom that both them (and we) deserved, and Eddie Argos would have been perfect on Strictly or Celebrity Catchphrase, but TV’s loss is very much shouty indie-pops gain.
Masters of their craft. Art Brut. Forever Top Of The Pops.
(Photo: Cheryl Doherty)
