Make Mine A Large One
Manchester's Snowfight In The City Centre are one of the better known names playing at this year's In The City event and the busy crowd packed into the Roadhouse tonight reflects that. Naturally a good crowd is great for the band but at the Roadhouse it's bad for the punters as there is no view to speak of if you're more than ten yards back.
Having been subjected to a plethora of indie for much of the day this far, it's refreshing to see a band do it well but at the same time there's no getting away from the fact that it's yet more of the same mid tempo, jangling indie. Yes they do put on a good performance and musically it's all very tight but when all's said and done, whilst they do have more about them than most there are also a lot of generic indie elements and after a day of them they just don't excite.
On the plus side they drive the songs along and as the sound improves they prove themselves to be accomplished performers. The songs are well structured and build well but where they excel is in the vocal department. Good backing vocals support the straight up delivery of Adam Jennings' lead vocals well; there's no whining going on here (thankfully!) and it gives the band a more listenable and honest approach. They are the best indie band of the day but it's still indie and a tried and tested formula of indie at that.