After what seemed like an endless journey that involved bank holiday traffic and cancelled trains and buses I finally arrived at the Liverpool Barfly to catch Wakefield trio The Research.
The crowd is sparse to say the least with few people turning out on a balmy Sunday evening in June. Support band Dartz give it everything they have, displaying a Rapture-esque quality with bags of energy and catchy hooks that could see them figure prominently over the coming twelve months.
The Research take to the stage and the few in attendence move forward but still seem to suffer from the British gig disease of
'front-itis'. This being when a venue is full people barge past anyone in a
desperate attempt to get to the front. Yet when the same people attend a concert within which anyone can just step to the front everyone naturally stands back attempting to hide behind others, very strange.
The set comprises the majority of the debut album Breaking Up with new single The Hard Times getting an early airing and new track I Think She's the One I Love also being played. As lead singer Russell (The Disaster) swivels to and fro on his stool he informs the crowd that he has a pink shoulder from the sun and takes off his cardigan to reveal his white vest for the first time in the live arena. On being told he resembles Bruce Willis circa Die Hard, he muses that he always wanted to look like Clint Eastwood, which seems unlikely to ever be fulfilled with his lack of height and fuzzy
hair. Stand out tracks from the show include excellent renditions of
Breaking Up, I Bet if We Kissed (dedicated to Phil from the support band Dartz!) and C'mon Chameleon, in which Russell manhandles his keyboard like Hendrix with his guitar, but stops short of breaking out the lighter fluid.
Throughout the show the venue is, thankfully, brought to life by a jiving indie couple who bop the night away right at the front.
When listening to the album, one only gets a soupcon of the
DIY nature of The Research, something that comes into full flight on stage. With the amazing array of rubbish that is promoted on the British music scene at the moment it would be nice to think that a band with gorgeous tunes and harmonies such as The Research will finally get there just desserts and foster a strong following. During the gig Russell mumbles that the band have become institutionalised into Barfly's up and down the country. Well all I can say is it's about bloody time a release was organised for the Wakefield Trio.
