Johnny Foreigner, Esquires, Bedford
Artist:
Johnny Foreigner
Venue: Esquires, Bedford
Date: 12/02/08
Rating:
"You’ll have to excuse us as we’ve been in three different traffic jams in three different countries today". With an opening statement such as that, you may think Johnny Foreigner's lead vocalist and guitarist Alexei is about to excuse his band's lack of effort and passion tonight in Bedford, as the fatigue of motorway travel takes its eventual toll. But, judging from the performance, nothing could be further from the truth.
Opener 'Champagne Girls I Have Known' is a stormer, the guitar ripping through the track's opening chords and never letting up, and punky dual vocals during the chorus from Alexei and Kelly proving fantastic. 'The End And Everything After' is equally impressive, the band's trademark stop/start guitar creating a wall of sound; impressive considering there is just one of them. The band belt it out, Kelly again providing superb backing vocals, and drummer Junior deserving a special mention as his fantastically tight rendition of the song makes the track on the night.
Later in the set they play next single 'Our Bipolar Friends', starting with some soft vocals it soon kicks off in to one of the band's strongest performances of the night. The guitar sound varies throughout, providing edgy, razor-sharp noises one moment and rumbling along rather punkily the next. The rhythm section is again spot-on with the clunky-sounding bass contrasting well with the lean drums. EP favourite 'Sofacore' follows with its rollercoaster sound of rabid guitars, keyboards and those lovely dual vocals, our only qualm being that it ends as abruptly as it starts.
Ending with the impressive 'Yr All Just Jealous', the band move north to their home city the same night and behind them leave a slightly shell-shocked Bedford. There are moments tonight where JoFo are mesmerising, tearing apart their songs with the kind of intensity that puts many of their peers to shame. The sound is impressively tight, considering the break-neck speeds at which many of the songs are played at. Between songs they're charming, if slightly bashful, but maybe that's just the tiredness showing.
Brendan Mckenna
Johnny Foreigner MySpace
Venue: Esquires, Bedford
Date: 12/02/08
Rating:
"You’ll have to excuse us as we’ve been in three different traffic jams in three different countries today". With an opening statement such as that, you may think Johnny Foreigner's lead vocalist and guitarist Alexei is about to excuse his band's lack of effort and passion tonight in Bedford, as the fatigue of motorway travel takes its eventual toll. But, judging from the performance, nothing could be further from the truth.
Opener 'Champagne Girls I Have Known' is a stormer, the guitar ripping through the track's opening chords and never letting up, and punky dual vocals during the chorus from Alexei and Kelly proving fantastic. 'The End And Everything After' is equally impressive, the band's trademark stop/start guitar creating a wall of sound; impressive considering there is just one of them. The band belt it out, Kelly again providing superb backing vocals, and drummer Junior deserving a special mention as his fantastically tight rendition of the song makes the track on the night.
Later in the set they play next single 'Our Bipolar Friends', starting with some soft vocals it soon kicks off in to one of the band's strongest performances of the night. The guitar sound varies throughout, providing edgy, razor-sharp noises one moment and rumbling along rather punkily the next. The rhythm section is again spot-on with the clunky-sounding bass contrasting well with the lean drums. EP favourite 'Sofacore' follows with its rollercoaster sound of rabid guitars, keyboards and those lovely dual vocals, our only qualm being that it ends as abruptly as it starts.
Ending with the impressive 'Yr All Just Jealous', the band move north to their home city the same night and behind them leave a slightly shell-shocked Bedford. There are moments tonight where JoFo are mesmerising, tearing apart their songs with the kind of intensity that puts many of their peers to shame. The sound is impressively tight, considering the break-neck speeds at which many of the songs are played at. Between songs they're charming, if slightly bashful, but maybe that's just the tiredness showing.
Brendan Mckenna
Johnny Foreigner MySpace
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