The Ataris
Things have seemed a bit quiet on the Ataris front for the last few years, the last time I remember hearing anything from them was when they played The Pyramids in February 2004. They made their return to the UK on Sunday when they kicked off their headlining tour at The Wedgewood Rooms.
It was surprising how quiet the Wedge was, it was just about half full which is a shame for the band as last time they were in town they sold out the Pyramids which is a bigger venue. The crowd also seemed older than usual and had probably been a fan of the band for a few years. Although the venue was fairly quiet, the Ataris were welcomed on stage by a huge round of applause and everyone in the room seemed happy to have them back on UK soil.
As soon as the band started playing they had people dancing, which soon turned into a circle pit, which seemed quite bizarre considering their music isn't really the kind that gets associated with circle pits, but they seemed happy that the crowd was having fun. Kris made sure there was plenty of crowd interaction as before introducing practically every song he would tell the crowd the background behind it. He also made a point of thanking the crowd and telling them how much he appreciated their support. I lost count of the amount of times he said this throughout their set.
The Ataris treated the crowd to an energetic performance; if they weren't running round the stage like lunatics they were rocking out behind their instruments. On several occasions Kris stepped onto the barrier and sang with the crowd while getting mobbed. After stepping across he was quickly covered in a sea of arms grabbing him. Vocally he couldn't be faulted, he was clear, on key and didn't try to show off by screaming or holding high notes, there was just an aura around him that made him seem down to Earth.
The band were equally as talented and drummer Shane was simply amazing. Not only was he a talented drummer you could see how much fun he was having just by watching him and his attitude was certainly rubbing off on the crowd. The Ataris are best known for their cover of 'Boys Of The Summer' but it seems they are trying to break away from that song. There were cries of "Play Boys Of The Summer" to which Kris replied "You don't really want to hear that". The whole crowd seemed to think the song was going to be played in their encore, but it wasn't and the disappointment was noticeable. But in fairness to the boys they played a good mix of new and old songs and finished off the night with a blinding live version of 'So Long Astoria'.