The Horrors
The Horrors made a pit stop in Portsmouth last night for their headlining show at the Wedgewood Rooms. The Horrors are as well known for their big hair and wacky dress sense as they are for their music, so unsurprisingly half the crowd attempted to rip of their look.
The doors opened at 8pm but it was just after 9pm before Neil's Children took to the stage by which point practically everyone in the room was fed up after waiting around for an hour. The band was welcomed on stage by a sigh of relief because something was finally happening followed by a huge cheer. They played for 30 minutes and definitely showed potential but their music was a bit too fake sounding for my liking, they over used their effects pedals where as their music probably would of sounded better if it was more natural. But Neil's Children owned the stage and had the kids up front dancing.
Another half an hour wait and The Horrors came out to deafening screams from the crowd. Their intro was a tad too long, it was a good couple of minutes before any words came out of front man Farris Rotter's mouth. The band sounded great, pounding basslines, heavy drum beats, but Rotter's vocals were practically inaudible even when he was just speaking to the crowd no one seemed to have any idea of what he was saying. The band's singles 'Sheena Is A Parasite' and 'Death Of At The Chapel' went down well with the crowd and got some movement going down at the front. After thirty minutes the band walked off stage and the crowd eagerly started chanting for an encore, but when the lighting in the room went up to full it was obvious that there wasn't going to be an encore and the crowd started to head out. Fans outside the venue didn't seem to impressed with The Horrors performance, when fans say "That was crap!" and "I can't believe they played exactly the same set as their last tour, what a rip off!" you know things haven't gone well.
I think it's safe to say that rather than winning the crowd over last night The Horrors actually lost themselves some fans, and if they want a long career in this industry they need to work a lot harder.