Live Review: The Computers, Outcry Collective and Chickenhawk – Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff - 25/03/2010

As I walked into Clwb Ifor Bach, something told me that tonight’s gig would be a low key affair. The legendary Cardiff venue was using the downstairs room, a room in which tonight’s openers ChickenHawk were mid way through their set, entertaining around 20 people. It’s a shame because they did sound pretty good, and for the couple of songs I managed to catch, they held my attention well and impressed me enough at least to check out what they had to offer on record when I got home.

Main support is Outcry Collective, a band that have gathered quite a bit of momentum recently, having just confirmed a slot on the upcoming Young Guns tour in May it seems as if everything is going well for them, but tonight just isn’t their night. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t as if they were bad, but the crowd just seemed completely uninterested, anything that frontman, Steve Sitkowski said went down like a lead balloon, no matter what he did to try and liven proceedings up, it just didn’t work, and as a result, I think their overall set suffered. That being said they were reasonable enough, stand out track was ‘Saviour Stranger’ I love that song anyway so to see it live was always going to be a success for me.

So, it was left up to the night’s headliners, The Computers to save what had been a fairly flat gig so far and thankfully I can say that they somewhat succeeded. It was clear that there was only one band that people were here to see tonight, and from the moment The Computers came onto the floor, uniformed in all white I might add, the crowd were attentive and fairly appreciative. In a blistering set that lasted around thirty five minutes, the band pretty much owned the room, with their set that was mainly taken from their EP, ‘You Can’t Hide From The Computers.’ It was front man, Alex who inevitably stole the show, using the layout of the room to his advantage, he was energetic and constantly moving, he was pretty funny too, regaling tour stories much to the crowd’s amusement. Overall, The Computers were seriously impressive.

In all honesty, it’s hard to give a decent account of the show, the atmosphere just wasn’t right, and although the crowd perked up for The Computers it was still all very lacklustre. All three bands on the bill were deserving of a bigger, more appreciative crowd, but if I take it as I did, an introduction to the potential of the three bands then I for one will definitely be checking them all out again in the near future.

3/5

Chris Marshman