The Bluetones

The bluetones…you either love em…or you don’t!! Thankfully enough of us do to keep them in gigs and singles. The bluetones are one of those ‘working’ bands, the type that don’t get the press attention but they’ve got a following. Tonight at the Forum, that following, is out in full force; ranging from the jaded industry types seated upstairs to the diehards down below pressed against the security barriers.

The instant they step on to the stage in their natty suits to the last second of the encore Mark, Adam, Scott and Eds have us in their hands. They’re straight into it belting out favourites from all their albums mixing in teaser new material. The new stuff sits beautifully alongside the likes of ‘Keep the home Fires Burning’ and ’Autophillia(or how I learned to stop worrying and love my car)’. The current single ’Afterhours’ - which takes influences from elo and queen to bugsy malone with a video to match - delivered with smooth moves and slick vocals, is a lesson in wry pop.

Suddenly aware of a strange and very loud humming I realise that almost the entire crowd is singing along to ’Sleazy Bed Track’. Being up with the jaded industry types I just about manage to restrain myself but by the time they come out with ‘If…’ my resolve is by the wayside. What the hell they’re working it hard..they deserve it. It’s gotta feel good and dancing in a particularly energetic fashion Mark is obviously loving it. A reviewer in Melody Maker once said that Mark couldn’t dance! Well I beg to differ. Mark dances the way The bluetones play….in a style of his own, a way he believes in, a way that is him and no one else, he does it because he wants to. That’s endearing …a bit like The bluetones really.