Last night was supposed to be Tuesday night. Well, let me rephrase that. The gig I went to last night, the rocktastic Hundred Reasons, was supposed to be held on Tuesday night. However, the fire alarm went off and the fire department couldnít reset it, so no one was allowed back in the building. Zany, right? Luckily, the ëReasons were able to reschedule for last night and their post-grunge onslaught warmed the crowd on a cold night in London.
For seeing gigs, few venues rank up there with ULU for me, but that may just be because itís only a 10-minute walk from my house and I can get hammered if I want and stagger home. Or, in last nightís case, I only had to brave the rain for those 10 minutes. See? Itís convenient. Plus, it was a Hundred Reasons show, and after their stellar sets at South By Southwest and the Reading Festival, I was interested to see them in an intimate venue, showing off their newly-recorded tunes. Seems I wasnít the only one, as the house was packed and members of Lostprophets, A and Hell Is For Heroes were all seen nodding sagely along to the hook-laden thrashers the Reasons set forth. The set was approximately 60% old material and 40% new, with past singles ìRemmus,î ìFalter,î and ìIíll Find Youî all receiving an uproarious welcome. Silliness ensued on ìSilverî when guitarist/backing vocalist Paul Townsend reversed the verses, and although the band kept playing without missing a beat, they were laughing for the duration of the track. The new material was cheered almost as loudly, with a number of the packed house having been in attendance for Monday nightís show and already knowing the words. By the time the band came back on for their encore, the crowd was so firmly in the palm of their hand that frontman Colin Doran merely said, ìThis oneís out Monday!î as they ripped into ìThe Great Testî to pandemonium. Two songs later as their anthemic ìIíll Find Youî rang the night to a close, the gravity of the situation started setting in: not only do these rockers have tons of catchy songs, but the kids go mad for them. Thatís a fairly convenient little pairing there. Now maybe someone will put out their record this time. Itís out February 9 in the UK. How much longer will we have to wait in the States? Only time will tell, I suppose.
Hundred Reasons setlist @ ULU, Thursday, October 30:
ìAnswersî
ìDissolveî
ìWhat You Getî
ìSilverî
(where Paul reversed the verses, much to band hilarity, apparently)
ìDrowningî
ìSavannaî
ìRemmusî
ìHarmonyî
ìWhat Thought Didî
ìFalterî
ìSoap Box Rallyî
ìMy Sympathyî
ìI’ll Find Youî
- encore -
ìThe Great Testî
ìOratorioî
ìIf I Couldî
