Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Any band who enters the stage accompanied by Patti Smith's 'Babelogue' demands respect. It's Independence day for our American cousins today and the leather clad bike boys are taking back their control by playing a small and intimate gig on the eve of more festival madness, this time at Finsbury park. A warm up maybe, but certainly a chance for them to regain some of the intimacy they have lost touch with during the last year of rising stardom. Tonight they seem more than grateful for a chance to lessen the divide between themselves and their adoring fans.

These boys have hit 0-60 in seconds and are still on full throttle, yet, while embracing the trimmings of fame in our beloved industry, they seem keen to learn from the mistakes of others and choose to retain an element of disguise and dignity. Fear, privacy or control we may ask, but what these boys may not reveal to our media about their personal lives their music makes up for in the form of rock n' roll heaven and gives a new meaning to the term heathen chemistry. Pedal driven guitar fracas and dynamics riddled with angst, attitude and intrigue produce sonic psychedelia meets unadulterated rock.

Robert Turner is the slightly edgier of the gang and dominant fixture of tonight. Broodingly beautiful and facially redolent of Richey Edwards from our own valley boys, Turner's vocal through gritted teeth plus his hungry working of the bass paints a picture of mayhem, distortion and reverb to make hair stand on end.* Peter Hayes* has a slightly softer edge, both to his look and to his vocal. Masterful lead licks together with many quickly adept guitar changes throughout the set give the impression that this boy is very much at home and clearly in his element with an audience, while the often overlooked drummer Nick Jago's determination and stamina are constant. Energy and drive are severely soaked into his skin and he sweats it all out on stage.

The blatant 'Spirit In The Sky' intro to 'Spread Your Love' transforms the venue into a moshpit of bobbing heads and air punches. The ten song set is broken by a less than five minute break before the boys perform a twenty minute encore which is left deliberately rough around the edges giving tonights performance an unaffected and 'real' feel, rollicking noisy affair that combines a familiar retro sound with boundary-busting freshness. Blocks of our past building roads of our future. Tonight it is a privilege to be part of their journey.