“There’s no part of my body that has not been used,” roars James Dean Bradfield as ‘Yes’ plays majestically in the background. Even though in the wake of last night’s glorious gig the lyric “There’s no part of my body that has not been BRUISED” seems somewhat more appropriate.
The gig coincided with the band’s latest single ‘Cemented Shoes.’ A monumental 3 ½ minuter that gently soothes you into stuttering verses and a rolling chorus before screaming at you in true vitriolic style leaving you dazed, confused and quite simply gasping for more.
The Garage is not, how may I put it, exactly my favourite of all venues, it’s small, dark, awkwardly planned, sweaty and hot (even though in fairness that may have had something to do with my running the length and breadth of Oxford Street just minutes beforehand.) But in truth I’m not one to focus on negativity, instead let’s say that the Garage is, in my words “atmospheric”, a venue where the crowd are literally on top of the band (and I mean literally)! At this point in time I would usually opt to mention the support acts, not in this case though. During the times of the night’s various support acts I was either situated the other side of London at a Coldplay gig (HMV signing) or rushing (well almost) down Oxford Street in a mad attempt to make the My Vitriol set (need not have bothered with the running mind you, My Vitriol were on late oh well, such is life!) But from the idle banter circulating the gig, and from later encounters on monotonous (but vital) tube journey’s it seems as if the main support act Wilt were good, if not slightly out of place with their somewhat softer Irish approach to rock.
My Vitriol opened their set with many fans firm-favourite ‘Always Your Way’, followed by an early appearance of the single ‘Cemented Shoes’ Complete with full undulating intro and vitriolic scream, ‘Cemented Shoes’ was indeed a personal highlight and for more than one reason…
It was during this song that the tall bloke behind decided that at just a smidgen over 5ft 2” I needed a helping hand in seeing the band. Okay, so I was having a little difficulty being situated behind possibly the tallest member of the crowd (why me?) but really did you have to pick me up and send me crowd surfing? Did you now? And without asking first? Tut! Now, I’m no stranger to crowd surfing, as I’m sure many small people will agree, for some reason people find it hilariously funny to send the small bouncy bouncy person crowd surfing, mostly without asking first. But in truth at most venues there’s usually some sort of bodyguard/ stage man, if not there is at least some distinction between crowd and stage. Oh No not at the Garage. Once at the front you are literally flung at the band, the only way down is to well jump back into the crowd and quite frankly… hope! The flying crowd-member factor may act as some form of explanation for the bands and in particular Som’s lack of interaction with the audience. Throughout the gig we only received a few mumbled phrases as song intros and a short “but sweet” culminating murmur. This in no way detracted from the gig, as in many ways it allowed the band to concentrate on their sound as well as their own personal safety (i.e. avoiding flying crowd members!) Besides, I feel an attempt at crowd interaction would have been lost on the masses especially those twats who seemed more concerned with barging into people, than they did about music, one question why bother?
I feel it is time to take a step back from the ‘over’ activity of the audience and flying crowd members to focus on the real reason the majority of people (a few twats besides), where there: ‘The Music’. Ok so I admit it this the first time I’d seen them live, in no way my first attempt, but still my first gig. In truth I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, I’d been informed of previous missed gigs by my peers and so forth and I’d heard live sets before, but nothing can compare (or indeed prepare you) to (for) seeing them live there in the flesh and all. In my humble opinion the adjectives ‘electric’ and ‘energetic’ are used far to freely in reviews, but in this case they’re exactly the right words, and as much as I grapple for slightly less overdone words my mind just keeps reverting back to ‘electric’ and ‘energetic’. The set list ran something along the lines of: ‘Always Your Way’- Blinding, no other word for it. ‘Cemented Shoes’- Fearing for my life didn’t in any way detract from the sheer brilliance of this song. ‘Infantile’- Not sure apparently they played this song, wouldn’t know as it’s a newy, I’m placing my trust in another journalist, and who am I to argue. ‘Losing Touch’- pure passion and energy (sorry it cropped up again). ‘Grounded’ – very impressive. ‘Wait A Minute’ – one of the two glorious b-sides to ‘Cemented Shoes’ it’s angst ridden and laden with feeling both on the record and live. ‘Pieces’- Try to stop your foot tapping and your body moving, bet you can’t. And finally the evening was closed with the instrumental ‘Tongue Tied’- What a perfect way to end a near perfect set. For those who haven’t heard, ‘Tongue Tied’ is delicate for the first few minutes with rambling guitar riffs that convey an eerie feel, only to be thrown back like true vitriol in your face, as the final minutes scream passion, energy and well ‘My Vitriol’
Although you can pick fault with many aspects of the Garage, when it comes to sound and sound quality you cannot complain. The acoustics are clear, present without a hint of distortion and at a pleasant volume- loud without being so loud that it hurts your ears, leaving them ringing for weeks to come, not nice. Throughout the gig the guitars echoed and reverberated around perfectly in keeping with the percussion and bass tempo never falling out of time. Som’s voice was laced with angst, passion and a kind of naïve frailty expressed on stage in ‘Wait a minute’, but better articulated in the other b-side to ‘Cemented Shoes’: ‘All Of Me’ (not played that night). Okay so My Vitriol may be Foo Fighters by number and echo Nirvana-esque vibes, but like the majority of comparisons they simply don’t do the band full justice. Even though personally I would rather be compared to Nirvana than say Toploader. Lets not forget the fact that these are different, they write and play different melodies, sing different songs, and play different live performances. Lets not get drawn into harsh (but fair) comparisons but rather look to what makes them, them.
My Vitriol played with a passion, a passion matched by the majority of the crowd, and a passion matched by that ever increasing legion, their fan base. Their current range of T-shirts may read ‘Who the fuck are My Vitriol’ a statement soon to be answered for all to see, these guys are gonna be huge.
