Redlight Company

It is something of an age-old cliche to say something gets better every time you see it but in the case of Grammatics, that really is an understatement. Already buoyed on by numerous flattering reviews of their debut long-player, it's not hard to see why the Leeds four-piece are held in such high critical regard. Having already proved themselves to be one of the most musically adept, not to mention challenging outfits to emerge from these shores in a long time, their songs have also developed into charismatic little beasts over the same period, so much so that the likes of 'Shadow Committee' and 'The Vague Archive' resonate with an urgency never previously associated with their creators.

What started out as an uphill struggle playing to a sold out Bodega consisting mainly of Radio Two friendly couples here for a safer than safe fix of the headliners anodyne soft rock, proves to be a triumph of sorts by the time 'Relentless Fours' brings their short six-song set to a close. The prospect of entertaining 200 souls with little to no knowledge let alone interest in Grammatics undoubtedly spurred them on, even to the point where heckles could be clearly heard during Red Light Company's set to "bring the support band back on - they were better than you!"

And so onto Red Light Company, the latest major label excursion into what they see as "the indie territories". There is certainly something quite suspicious about RLC, whether it be the fact they seem to have appeared from nowhere without playing the circuit, to the hollow posturing on-stage which while pulling off all the defined moves and shapes at every song's most crucial moment (i.e. the chorus). All in all, there appears to be little to no chemistry between the band members and ultimately this makes their performance seem routine rather than incendiary or life-affirming as the U2-isms of many of their songs try and suggest.

By the end of their set it's difficult to describe Red Light Company as anything other than disappointing. Sure, they do possess a couple of songs that tick all the right boxes - 'Meccano' being the most glaringly obvious - but the lack of charisma emanating from the stage makes it difficult to recommend their live show, and even though the instrumentation is pretty much faultless, there's little to be found here that you wouldn't get from sitting at home listening to one of their CDs. Given time, maybe RLC will develop into a more attractive proposition than at present, although the most likely scenario being that once the masses start to lose interest in their quasi stadium rock they'll be dropped by their label like a stone off a cliff top.

As average as average can be.