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Unbelievable
Truth, 2000
London, Borderline
2.3.2000
.
 20.35.YA
habia una cola considerante delante de Borderline. Curiosamente, esta vez
la gente parecia mucho mas mayor que la ultima vez que les vi en directo,desde
hacia mas de un año, algo que nos recordo Nigel en un momento del
concierto.
Al entrar
en la sala que se estaba llenando por momentos,decidi echar una ojeada
al lugar ya que era algo nuevo para mi. Los teloneros, un grupo bastante
interesante de un pop pegadizo, simple y guitarrero, con acento en la voz
del cantante, llamado Oslo, ya se habian apoderado del escenario, un espacio
enano casi a la entrada de la sala-pub, porque eso es lo que parecia con
toda su parafernalia tipica.Al dar la vuelta no era de extranar, pues,
que el primero con quien me topase fuera Nigel, quien estaba charlando
con alguien.Siempre tan jovial y amigable el chaval. Ya no lucia su cola
de siempre.
Al no
ver caras conocidas, a parte de Terry Hall, al que tiendo ver en todos
los conciertos a los que voy,decidi buscar un buen puesto delante del escenario,
justo en frente del segundo guitarrista, en la primera fila. Perfecto!La
sala empezaba a estar a tope ya a esas horas y los teloneros estaban tocando
su ultima cancion.Al salir del escenario,ya se veia a Nigel haciendo de
roadie con Jason y otros dos chicos.Parece ser que Nigel forma parte activa
de todo lo que conlleva estar en un grupo. Me hizo gracia.
A las
21.45 ya estaba todo listo y pude observar por una puerta entreabierta
al otro extremo de la sala a un Andy algo nervioso. Acompanados por unos
calurosos aplausos,saltaron al escenario los chicos de UT. Andy, como de
costumbre, tenia la vista mas fija en el suelo o mirando en frente en un
punto lejano y a veces se dio la vuelta para mirar a sus companeros. Despues
de un rapido saludo, empezaron con "Landslide", una preciosa cancion que
promete ser una de las incluidas en el nuevo disco. Tuvieron algun que
otro problema al principio del concierto, con un Nigel perdiendo el ritmo
un par de veces y una guitarra desafinada. Pero solo al principio, porque
el resto del concierto fue genial. Luego saltaron a la segunda cancion
nueva "From this height", otra preciosidad con un Andy mostrando sus encantadores
cuerdas vocales, tan reminiscente, a veces de su hermano mayor.
Andy lucia
un jersey negro y unos pantalones marrones de pana y si, todavia saltaba
a la vista aquella tripita de birra. Y llevaba gafas puestas. Nigel, con
el sentido del humor que debe de tener, llevaba unos Converse, cada uno
de color distinto, uno rojo y el otro verde y con su camiseta de manga
larga blanca favorita. El otro guitarrista iba todo disfrazado de denim
y Jason con una camiseta oscura, esa sonrisa copyright y con los ojos cerrados
y cabeza echada ligeramente para atras. Muchisimo mas acento en las canciones
nuevas esta vez con una que otra sorpresa.Una de las nuevas canciones,
"Pedestrian"que,al empezar pense que era una broma por parte de Nigel,llego
a ser una cancion de lo mas interante,mas experimental,con un Nigel tocando
la bateria electrica y el efecto que me produjo fue el que debe de tener
influencia directa de...Thom...o Jonny? En otra de las canciones nuevas;
"I can't wait" la voz de Andy recurria inevitablemente a la de su hermano,
a veces cuando llego al falseto.Medio balada con coros guitarreros,estilo
UT a tope.
A medida
que iba avanzando el concierto, Andy se iba soltando mas, y hasta nos obsequio
con una que otra de sus preciosas sonrisas, bromeando con sus companeros.
Nigel estaba de muy buen humor e hizo sus pequenos comentarios humoristicos
entre canciones para la diversion del publico. Hubo un momento especialmente
divertido, cuando Andy estaba afinando su guitarra y Nigel le estaba preguntando
por cual acorde iba y Andy le contesto, sonriente que siguiese entreteniendo
al publico un poco mas que casi habia acabado. La gente aplaudia encantada.
Esos momentos entre el grupo son los que traen la chispa humoristica en
un concierto. Cada uno de los miembros del grupo tuvieron su oportunidad
de demostrar su buen sentido del humor.
Claro
que no faltaban las joyas de su trayectoria anterior como unas preciosas
rendiciones de "Stone", "Finest little space" o "Building". Una curiosa
oferta nueva fue "Agony" que era muy rockera, casi heavy con un guitarreo
prominente. A mas de uno se le quedaba la boca abierta. Es interesante,
de todas formas, el que prueben caminos diferentes. Solo es cuestion de
tiempo para ver como terminan en el album nuevo.
El sonido
era bastante bueno, considerando lo pequeno que era el sitio. Nada de juegos
de luces impresionantes esta vez. Todo se concentraba mas que nada en la
voz de Andy y la seccion ritmica de Nigel y Jason. Ya se oia mas de una
vez hablar del talento de Nigel como bateria,porque si, el chaval tiene
potencia. Y claro que no se dejaba llevar solo por la bateria, que ya se
le veia delante de los teclados tambien. Tocaron algo mas de una hora y
salieron para dos bises. El primero con todo el grupo, empezando con una
impresionante version de "Shed your skin", esta vez introducida por Andy,
que ya estaba sonriendo abiertamente, algo timido tambien, feliz con la
entusiasmada respuesta del publico. Casi escalofriante de lo preciosa que
sonaba. Y luego,en el segundo bis, como de costumbre, solo salieron Andy
y Nigel para tocar otra maravilla que conoce el nombre de "Almost here",
garantizada para llevarte a otro mundo.Alucinante.
Es curioso
como cada vez me hacen dibujar una sonrisa en la cara.
.
Despues
les toco la hora de las firmas. Yo estaba observando a la gente hablando
con Nigel y Jason, los cuales charlaban animadamente con los fans. Andy
salio despues y la cola que se habia formado delante de el de cazadores
de autografos le hizo sentir, por lo que pude observar, algo incomodo y
timido a la vez. Me hizo gracia la forma en que tendia a rasgarse la nuca
y tocarse la oreja. Pero cumplio con su deber y a lo poco se las piro para
el camerino.
Otra sonrisa
se me formo en la cara.
Unbelievable
Truth, Borderline 2.3 .2000
8.35 pm.There
was quite a queue in front of Borderline already by that time.Funnily enough,this
time all the people seemed much more older than the last time I saw the
band live,more than a year ago. Something that Nigel reminded us of during
the concert. When I entered the venue,that was getting packed by minutes,I
decided to have a look around the place because it was new for me.The support
band,quite an interesting one playing simple if slightly experimental,guitar
based pop music,called Oslo were already on stage,a space ridiculously
small, very near the entrance of the venue which more than anything resembled
of a pub with all its typical decoration.Scanning around it didn't come
as much of a surprise that the first person I would bump into was Nigel
who was chatting with someone.As friendly as ever.His little "hair extension"
was gone. As I didn't see any familiar faces,apart from Terry Hall,whom
I seem to see at all the gigs I go to,I decided to get a good position
in the first row,just in front of the second guitarist.The venue was starting
to get pretty packed by that time while the support band were playing their
last song.When they got off stage you could see Nigel doing his roadie
bit with Jason and a couple of other blokes.It seems like Nigel forms a
pretty active part in the band helping out the others.I found it quite
amusing. At 9.45 everything was ready and I could see a slightly nervous
Andy from the other end of the stage.While people where applauding the
boys from UT jumped on stage.Andy,as usual,had his eyes fixed on the floor
or staring at a distant spot in front of him,turning around from time to
time to look at his band mates.After a quick hello they started with "Landslide",a
beautiful song which promises to be one of the included in the new album.They
had a few problems at first with Nigel losing rhythm at times and a guitar
was doing tricks as well.But only for a while because the rest of the gig
went perfectly well.They followed with another new song,"From this height",another
gem with Andy giving a pure demostration of his amazing vocal talent so
reminiscent,at times,of that of his brother. Andy was wearing a black jumper
and brown corduroy pants and the beer belly was still there. He was wearing
glasses as well.Nigel,as funny as ever,was wearing Converse trainers, each
one of a different colour,one red and the other one green and his favourite,
white, long-sleeved shirt. The other guitarrist was all in denim and Jason
had a dark T-shirt on,with his copyright smile,eyes closed and the head
slightly drawn back. Much more emphasis on the new songs with a few nice
surprises. One of the new songs called "Pedestrian",that when it first
started I thought was a practical joke by Nigel's part,turned out to be
a very interesting song,more experimental with Nigel playing electronic
drums and I couldn't help but wonder about the direct influence by...Thom....or
Jonny? In "I can't wait", another new song , Andy's voice,inevitably,sounded
especially like Thom's at falsetto. Part ballad with guitar heavy chorus,very
UT. As the concert was getting into its full swing,Andy was chilling out
more and was flashing more than once one of his beautiful smiles and was
joking about with his mates. Nigel was in a very good mood and was entertaining
the audience with his funny little comments in between songs. There was
an especially amusing moment when Andy was tuning his guitar and Nigel
was asking him which cord was he into and Andy told him to keep entertaining
the people that he was almost finished.The audience burst into a delighted
laughter.Those moments in between the band bring the necessary humoristic
spark into the shows.Every one of the member of the band had their chance
to show their good sense of humour. Not to forget about the gems of their
back catalogue with some beautiful versions of "Stone","Finest little space"
or "Building". A curious new offer was a song called "Agony" ,very rocky,almost
heavy with prominent guitar riffs.It left more than one person with their
mouth open.But it's interesting how they approach their music in a different
ways.It's only a matter of time to see of how they'll end up in the new
album. The sound was pretty good considering the size of the venue.No impressive
light shows this time around. Everything evolved around Andy's voice and
the rhythm section courtesy by Nigel and Jason.A few people were talking
about Nigel's talents as a drummer because, indeed, you have to admit,
that the guy's got potential.But it wasn't just all about drums,you could
spot him behind the keyboards as well. They played a bit over an hour and
did two encores. The first one with the whole band,giving us an impressive
version of "Shed your skin",this time introduced by Andy who now was smiling
openly, a bit shy,happy with the feedback from the audience.It made you
shiver as beautiful as it sounded. And then, the next encore,as usual,would
bring us only Andy and Nigel on stage playing another of their guaranteed
out-of-this-world experiences, "Almost here".Amazing. It's funny how every
time they draw a smile on my face.
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Then it
was time for the autographs.I was observing Nigel and Jason chatting away
happily with their fans.Andy came out a bit later and the queue of autograph
hunters in front of him, made him feel,as I could see,a bit uncomfortable
and coy at the same time.I found it funny the way he was scratching the
nape of his neck or touching his ear. But he dealt with it nicely and diplomaticly
and soon took off backstage. Another smile crossed my face.
Untruth
© Indyrock
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