"It's funny", mused an Owl upon entering the Waterfront and making our way to the bar, "it's only when arriving at a Metal gig that I realise I'm quite happy not to be a teenager anymore". I see what he means. Despite being accused of being a little old recently, I have to say: there are some sights here tonight. Fortunately, however, despite the comedy name and wacky song titles ("I Punched A Lion In The Throat", anyone?), the ferocity of tonight's headliners on stage ensure that the majority of laughs to be had are provided by the hairstyles on display among Norfolk's teenagers.
Having built up their reputation on the live scene in recent years, PABH have emerged in 2012 as the real deal, with ace new album "Tough Love" earning plaudits and - perhaps a little tenuously - comparisons to Queens Of The Stone Age. While it is perhaps a little too early to lump them in with Josh Homme's sludge rock titans, there are moments tonight (on "Wolf Hand" and "V.E.N.O.M" in particular) when the Leeds quartet suggest that they have spent more than a few nights in (or journeys in a transit van) being inspired by "Songs For The Deaf".
It is for the most part thrilling stuff, tight melodies and gargantuan riffs bouncing off the Waterfront's low ceiling, from whose beams the band intermittently dangle. Brilliantly, between song exchanges with the crowd do not stray far from the "we've got massive hangovers, we have" variety, but if on occasion the band can come across as a little cartoonish, it is clear that they are deadly serious about their art. And if on record the cut glass fed through a blender vocals can become a little wearying (a Cobain-esque shriek can be an exhilarating thing, but Kurt's voice was so much more than just a scream) on stage it makes much more sense, and an encore of Nirvana's "Tourette's" makes for an inspired choice of cover, especially for we acolytes at the back.
In short, if you had PABH written off and filed in the "slightly novelty" drawer, think again. On tonight's evidence, things could be about to get very interesting indeed.
Chris
"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid" -Frank Zappa
I saw PABH at Glastonbury last year. They seemed to have a massive gay following. This baffled me. Until I realised most of the crowd had turned up early for Patrick Wolf.
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