Scottish indie rockers The View burst into fame when debut ‘Hats Off To The Buskers’ soared to No.1 in the album charts of ’06. Everyone knows them as the band that sang ‘Same Jeans’. They are now due to release their fourth album, ‘Cheeky For A Reason’, despite the decline of the era of Oasis and Arctic Monkeys. But will tonight prove that their lay-low approach over the last six years has eventually become fruitful?
Gentlemen Starkey begin tonight’s shenanigans. They should be gearing up the crowd, but instead they stand rigidly, draining any sort of anticipation we may have had. The only time they catch our ear is when their closing song picks up the pace and some passion surfaces in the last fading minutes.
Next up, The Haunt meets Sound Of Guns, just a bunch of happy Scouse lads who burst onstage to a montage of voxpops and pretty blue and pink lights. Much louder and much more energetic than their predecessors, the crowd really start to move to the powerful gang vocals of their opening track. Lead singer Andrew’s exuberance and raspy vocals spreads amongst us like butter over warm crumpets. During their finale, the daring vocalist decides to scale the speakers and hangs from the balcony above.
And so now it feels like, following their previous success, The View need to up their game. But as the crowd chants “The View are on fire”, and the band proudly pick up their instruments, it’s clear their followers still believe in them. The new material, including the track ‘Hold On Now’ from their July-release record, is fantastically received amongst tonight’s set.
The band have struggled to regain their stature in the charts, but this club tour should see them rekindle their fans’ passion and perhaps see them back on track. Of course, when ‘Same Jeans’ is twanged out by the guitars, vocalist Kyle needn’t bother singing as the fans have it covered. Overall, they may have dipped out of view, but this is by no means justified when you see how exciting and talented the band is live.
Haunt (Moved from Concorde2), Sunday 24th June 2012
Words by Lizzi Hart
Photos by Emma Jeffery
