The Shins @ The Astoria
Another NME Awards Show at the Astoria brought The Shins back across the water for their first proper UK gig since the release of third album Wincing the Night Away. The album went to number 2 in the US Billboard charts upon release, showing their development into a more mainstream market in their home country – they may not have reached similar levels in the UK, but a long sold-out Astoria welcomed them back to the UK enthusiastically. Before that, however, three support acts graced the stage. First on were Alberta Cross, a folk-rocky four piece with lots of hair who were, I thought, reminiscent at points of Turin Brakes. Their set was enjoyable and worth investigating further.
The next support act I was very excited about seeing: I first heard about Texas band Voxtrot around April last year, and, having talked incessantly about them to all and sundry since then, I was delighted to be able to see them on their first trip to the UK. Their set included songs from their three so-far released EPs, kicking off with Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Wives and later Soft & Warm, Raised By Wolves and luckily squeezed in at the end due to a couple of spare minutes, their most known song, The Start of Something. When given the opportunity to be free from his guitar in Your Biggest Fan, lead singer Ramesh Srivistava bounced around the stage like a man possessed. Having already blogged about them a few weeks back I won't go into just why they're so great, but their self titled debut album featuring entirely brand new material, none culled from the EPs, will be released in May and it should be a highlight of the year's releases.
The third and final support act were Manchester's Polytechnic. I'd heard their name in various places before but wasn't sure what to expect from them: it turned to be an enjoyable but fairly uninspiring set of indie rock. They don't seem to have been making many waves in the industry of late, so I was surprised that they were main support rather than Voxtrot, who have an ever-increasing fanbase and a sound closer to that of the headliners, who made their entrance at just past 9pm. An extended intro to new album opener Sleeping Lessons built up the anticipation in the crowd before they raced through the first four tracks to the album in order, declaring it to be "face-meltingly awesome". One of the biggest cheers of the night came next for the classic Kissing the Lipless, with New Slang, Caring Is Creepy, Saint Simon and set closer So Says I from their first two albums also delighting the audience, who sang every word back at James Mercer. They also included a cover version in their encore, apparently by The Modern Lovers. I found it fairly unremarkable, but the band seemed to be enjoying themselves, frontman Mercer leaving his bandmates to deliver the crowd banter throughout the set. The addition of a new keyboardist has certainly 'rocked-up' their live sound in comparison with the recorded versions, and after hearing previous reports of them being a disappointing live act, they dispelled this with a great performance showing them to be worthy of their increasing success.
