Plain White T's - Live at Kings College Student's Union
Well, what can I say ... after hearing just the recent single release 'Hey there Delilah', anticipations about this Chicago born band were pretty high, and Plain White T's had no intentions of disappointing.
After a recent tour around the UK, their last date was at the Kings College Students Union. Don't let the small venue fool you into thinking these guys are going to be one time hits. With the album 'Every Second Counts' just released, most of the people in the audience seemed to know the words to all the songs already. The lyrics were catchy and enjoyable and even someone like me, who had only heard one song previously, felt encouraged to attempt (and that was what it was) to sing along to the infectious lyrics such as those in 'Hate (I really don't like you)' – "You were everything I wanted/You were everything a girl could be/Then you left me brokenhearted/Now you don't mean a thing to me/All I wanted was your Love, love, love, love, love, love".
Whether it was rocking out on upbeat numbers like 'So damn cleaver' and 'Take me away' or being gentler on ballads like 'Write you a song' Plain White T's were able to show a variety of talent over numerous songs of different tempos and structure.
The vocals throughout the entire gig were astonishing. With Tom singing lead vocals all the way through and Mike and Tim helping out with the backing and harmonising, it was like listening to a much-tuned recorded CD, except in the flesh. One aspect of Tom's performance that made other vocalists seem dull and uninteresting on stage were his little hand gestures. Whether he was singing about hating someone, or loving someone, he had a hand gesture for every occasion. It just made the show that more meaningful, and the lyrics that much more understandable over the roaring drums from De'Mar, guitars and bass.
With Plain White T's, there are two guitarists, Dave and Tim; each have a very different stage performance. Where Dave was more energy driven, Tim was much more calmer, deeper into the music and lending his vocals to some of the backing. Both guitarists were able to stand their own on stage with some amazing guitar riffs and an excellent solo while singing 'Breakdown'. One particular element that was quite remarkable was seeing vocalist Tom Higgenson being able play acoustic guitar on a number of songs; it's not just in videos, he can actually play!
So much effort was put in to this show, and by the end of the evening the guys were literally dripping with sweat, as the talent poured off of them. If you didn't manage to catch one of their UK shows this time, the lads assure us they're coming back early in the New Year, so watch out, these lads are gonna make it big. If you are not a fan before you see them live, I guarantee you will be after...I'm off to buy the album.