Renegades (Feeder), Lights Go Blue

"Renegades – Who are they? Never heard of them" I hear you say. Well in actual fact you probably have! Renegades is actually an offshoot of Feeder, that sees the mighty Grant Nicholas, Taka Hirose and new drummer Karl Brazil take a break from recording in the studio. Armed with a whole host of new tracks which takes them back to their roots they took the O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham by absolute storm on Thursday night.

At the start of 2010, Feeder (under the guise of the Renegades) released a new four track EP release called, unsurprisingly, 'Renegades'. Coupled with this, the band announced a small 6 date tour playing as a three piece in tiny venues in Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London. It was all very hush hush, but if you are in the know and follow Feeder religiously you would have found out one way or another.



If you were on the bands mailing list, you could buy a package for £35, which included your ticket, a T-shirt, the four track EP and a set of badges, which is bloody good value for money. Only one problem was the T-shirt was way too small ( think the gym beckons, too many mince pies). The band had requested on Facebook that everyone wear their Renegades shirts, and that they did in their 100's, a sea of Black shirts with big white lettering.

For the Birmingham gig it was a freezing cold nite, but despite the nip in the air people started queuing from 3pm to vie for a place, prop up the crash barrier and egg their heroes on when they managed to get inside and rush to the front. When we got there it was after 6pm, with approximately 8 die hard fans in front of us. There was a scruffy looking guy chatting to some of the fans, then in an instant I recognised it was Grant Nicholas! I soon whipped my camera out and grabbed a snap with him; I'd tried for years but always managed to miss my chance up until now.

Nicholas chatted to all the fans waiting outside and said he hoped we would all enjoy the show and he thanked us all for coming. The music business is fraught with big egos and artists that really don’t give a shit about their fans once they’ve hit the big time, BUT I must say in this instance Renegades (Feeder) are one of the exceptions to the rule. Nicholas was an absolute gentleman and he made everyone's day just by staying for five minutes and acknowledging our existence.

The doors opened at 7, and everything went smoothly, until I found out there was no pit for the photographers and I had to take my chances with the crowd. Oh fabulous! That's the last thing you need, especially when your gear is so expensive.

The gig kicked off with support act Lights Go Blue, a two piece from Kent. The opening bars from their first tune sounded amazing, dance beats acting as a backdrop to their two synths, drum kit and guitar. It all came crashing down around them when they opened their mouths and sang. Sorry guys but you need a vocalist; either that or stick to being an instrumental band.

It didn't really matter though as the crowd were only here to see one band and that was Renegades. They graced the tiny stage at 9pm when video cameras and camera phones were switched on to record all around us (the band had asked fans to record some of the songs and download them to the site, the prize, a flip-top camera). It seemed an amazing idea until I found myself squeezed next to a smelly 6ft plus hulk of a man holding his camera up in the air for the entirety of the gig and wafting a lovely smell of BO right in front of my nose.

The 13 song extravaganza of a set was nothing less than amazing. The band have totally shunned any commercialism in their music and reverted to their traditional roots of punk orientated music with a tinge of rock?. I bloody loved it; the whole set was so passionate and new drummer Brazil fitted in perfectly to the Nicholas and Hirose formulae.



The set was kicked off by stonking 'Barking Dogs' which blew my bloody ears off, followed by new song after new song. 'Sentimental' got the crowd roaring and well up for it, 'This Town' followed and then 'Left Foot Right' which was an absolute knock out of a song, I want to hear it again live now!

'Home' was again another stonker. I couldn't believe my ears, how good was this material? After 'River' and 'White Lines' they threw in an amazing old Feeder favourite which Nicholas explained is requested at every gig they play. 'Tangerine' kicked off and the crowd went mental - I have never seen so much excitement and zeal in my life; even Taka joined in by bouncing up and down with his bass like Zebedee from Magic Roundabout.

Last three songs of the set were 'End Of The Road', another blistering song, and 'Call Out' was the last song of the set before the encore: I loved the whole atmosphere of this gig. The short set, fabulous venue and the fans just made it for me. The crowd spent the whole night heckling various band members with comments like "There's only one Brazil", "Feeder! Feeder!", "We Love You Taka We Do"; you couldn't have asked for better.



The encore was explosive and mind-blowingly good. The first bars of 'Sweet 16' hit the air and that was it, like a red rag to a bull. Moshing, furious jumping up and down and real ardour. Last song of the night was 'Descend' and oh my god, no words could describe how good this song was, truly amazing. Grants vocals were sensational. This was 60 minutes of pure excellence that was worth every penny.

FUTURE GIGS

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