Last night I ended up at Tunbridge Wells Forum after a friend offered me a free ticket to see The Subways. I'm never one to turn down a free ticket to any gig, so despite not knowing any songs, I headed off to see The Subways. Unfortunately, I missed support act, The Beaches, as I was starving so went and had a bag of chips from the local chippy instead but by the time I got into the small venue, which apparently used to be a toilet, I was excited to discover some new music. I started off hanging at the back of the venue, having a pint or two seeing as I wasn't in a particularly lively mood. Despite being about 3 meters from the stage I couldn't really see much of what was going on. There was a lackluster cheer when the band came on and the crowd just seemed a bit dead for the first half an hour or so. Despite this, female vocalist Charlotte, head-banged throughout every song whilst Billy belted out lyrics and drummer Josh battled to play tunes through his lovely long locks.
I don't know if it's because I have never really listened to them before, but for a large duration of their set I felt like every song was the same. Maybe I zoned out, I'm not sure, but I didn't feel there was much range in their setlist. Having said that, what they did play did make me want to move about a bit. With this feeling I moved closer to the front and this is where I found out I had been mistaken. Right at the edge of the stage was a mosh pit of about 15 men and 5 boys, all quite drunk and all having the time of their lives. I suddenly understood what the band were feeding off. Whilst down front I also found out that I did know one of the bands songs! Rock & Roll Queen began and I found myself singing along like this was a gig I had been excited about for weeks. Despite this 3 minutes of elation, I can only sum up this gig as 'a good time.' Although the band have been together for well over a decade, I felt they lacked a unity on stage and I felt there was just something missing. Like most bands these days, The Subways asked the whole crowd to sit on the floor in order to jump up and unlike other bands I've seen do this, it didn't feel right for this band. It felt forced, like they thought they'd do it because it's the cool thing to do these days. They also didn't do an encore because it's "outdated." Again, this just added to my uncertainty about this band live. Don't get me wrong, I am happy I went, I did enjoy it but I can't say they'd be band that I'd pay to see. Unfortunately, they're just not unmissable. Maybe I need to listen to a few of their albums and see them live again to get the buzz the hardcore fans did but for now, The Subways are just good.
Setlist
Kalifornia
Oh Yeah
Brand New Beat
Shake Shake
I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say
Like I Love You
I Won't Let You Down
I'm In Love
Mary
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Rock & Roll Queen
We Don't Need Money To Have A Good Time
At 1AM
Taking All The Blame
Somewhere
With You
Girls & Boys
Celebrity
It's A Party
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