The Bravery

I bought tickets to see The Bravery on a whim, having heard "Honest Mistake" and after reading some really great reviews of their live shows and articles comparing them to The Cure. They're not so much the Cure as New Order mixed with Gang of Four and, erm, Erasure, but the songs are very very catchy and they do write some fantastic riffs, particularly for the keyboard.

I am of two minds, however, about the gig I saw last night. The performance was fantastic, really energetic and the band were pretty much note-perfect. The crowd were going mental, the bassist, in particular, was going mental and kept jumping into the crowd, bass and all and I did find myself dancing. Plus, it's really nice that at the moment gigs are full of small girls, much like myself, and I can see without going right to the front. For years I've suffered through shows that were 80% male and had to either get there really early and stand at the front and get crushed or spend the show staring at some giant's shoulder blades. So, yay to the Bravery for making gig-going popular amongst small females. Plus, I think I worked out where the Cure comparisons come from. The singer does have a similar vocal quality to Robert Smith.

On the downside, however, I did get the impression that I should have been slightly embarassed for enjoying the gig so much. They aren't the most creative band on the planet and the lyrics are far from thoughtful. There's other, similar bands around that write better songs (the 2 singles excepted, they are quite good), including The Futureheads, Franz Ferdinand, Dogs Die in Hot Cars and any number of '80's rock/synth throwbacks that are around at the moment.

But, you can't argue with the enjoyment the band were getting out of performing, and I'm still humming "Swollen Summer" this morning. Which leads me to the conclusion that "...if I'm getting dumber" it's something I'll happily have to accept.