InMe Gig Review Gonzo Style
Its not every day that you get a band that has played on the main stage of Reading Festival and Download as well as supported bands like Nickelback coming to Winchester especially, its Student Union. I honestly had never been into InMe the first time round,but wanting to support the local music scene and my friend Hadley who got the opportunity to DJ, I felt obliged somewhat to attend. I’m not in the most gig-friendly mood tonight after discovering that working Bank Holiday weekends in a supermarket is not always a good idea but I thought the opportunity seems to good to pass up.
The queue for the gig is what I expected full of teenagers most of them sporting InMe merchandise and rather surprisingly asymmetrical fringes. Yes I am using a euphemism for an emo.
I manage to blag a free ticket of a guy named Jason who’s buddy didn’t show up. I find out he comes from the same area as me as knows a lot of the same people in the Basingstoke music scene as me including one of my best mates.
Upon entering the SU, I realise that this is a perfect venue for gigs. The layout is perfect and the space is just about right too. Almost similar to the Pyramids Centre in Portsmouth. Its a shame more gigs don’t go on here. More people have turned up than I have imagined.
The first band on are called The Row. One look makes reminds me of the school bands that you want to forget. One of their guitarists look ten years old and a Lil Chris wannabe. Its slightly painful listening. They are all talented musicians don’t get me wrong but they just don’t gel at all. They all seem on completely different pages and they look nervous. Really really nervous. The use of a synth/keyboard as a substitute for a bass doesn’t work at all. When the acoustic guitar comes out I cringe even more. Give another ten years and they’ll be rockstars as opposed to living out the rock star fantasies.
The in-between DJing lifts the atmosphere. Its crowd-pleasing but thats what needed for tonight it gets people singing along and dancing. Its old school and brings a smile to this writers face.
Sion fare a lot better. I’d heard of them before as they are local lads from Andover and have been going for quite a while even though they are still quite young. They have the Killers-style dress code but have a slick progressive sound with tinges of Placebo, newer material Incubus and even some Radiohead thrown in. I hear later on that they’ve supported bands like Oceansize, which is good on them as they deserve the exposure. These guys look like they’ll go far.
Tonight has been overdue for a decent band to grace the SU’s stage. Some may argue that a Joy Divison tribute band and The Holloways count as decent live music though I am one to disagree somehow. InMe deliver the goods-simple as. They’re tight knit and have a sharp sound. The obvious pit starts to get going though tonight I decline to get involve that far despite my gonzo leanings. Most of their material goes striaght over my head unfortunately apart from the last song Underdose which whips the crowd into a frenzy. Hopefully tonight will be sign that this will be the first of many live music based nights.
