Bravery/Radio 4 Concert Review
Venue: The Roxy (Atlanta, GA)
Date: 12/05/06
Opening Band: Radio 4
Music: 6.25/10
Showmanship: 7.75/10
Light Show/Theatrics: 5.75/10
Intangibles: 4/10
Overall: 5.25/10
Radio 4, from New York City, accompanied The Bravery on their promotional tour of both band’s new albums. Like true Indie stars, Radio 4 incorporates all of your favorite elements from Interpol, Violent Femmes, The Clash and even a small cue from Morrissey. In fact, if you like any of the aforementioned bands, I’d suggest you pick up Radio 4’s “Enemies Like This”, their newest release – before it becomes slathered on radio stations across the country. All around, an average show – but Anthony Roman’s balding spot makes it seem like you’re watching your dad and friends rock out on stage. In fact, if you focus on it for long enough (at least, at a venue like the Roxy), it really sucks you into the whole light show. Roman also brings a level of energy to the stage that just isn’t supported by the rest of the band, so he ends up looking quite goofy all show long. The percussionist, who also doubles as the band’s beefy white dude (You know you always need at least one. They’re necessary for the football player-like high-fives and butt slaps), plays a cowbell-heavy segment that has the crowd in cowbell fever… “I’ve got a fever – and the only cure is MORE COWBELL!” … Yeah. All around – worth seeing, but unless you’re a 60s counter-culture fanatic into Synth-Euro-rock, this is a radio show you can afford to miss.
Headliner: The Bravery
Music: 6/10
Showmanship: 7.5/10
Light Show/Theatrics: 6.5/10
Intangibles: 4/10
Overall: 5.5/10
With the fact that tickets to this show were not available for sale, The Bravery took an opportunity to preview their new album before an unsuspecting Roxy audience. The die-hard counter-culture youth (think Libertines, or 1960/1970 punk scenes) were out in force to fervently support what was a quite mundane show. Many of the Bravery’s new tracks sounded awfully similar to their old stuff. In fact, if you liked their self-titled album – you’ll feel exactly the same about their new stuff. Ironically, the Bravery had a couple of serious mishaps – including a speaker being unplugged near the beginning of the show. Minus all the tech-hiccups, the show was rather run-of-the-mill. Most of the Bravery songs ran together, and in order to try to energize the crowd, The Bravery had to pull their single out early – playing “An Honest Mistake” towards the middle of their show. I’m awfully glad that Camel sponsored this show; I’d have hated to have paid money for it.
-Yancey Larochelle