In a world where some artists are constantly trying too hard to over complicate song structures and melodies to stand out from the rest, it is refreshing to come across a band that instead pay homage to good ol’ fashioned indie. Geordie outfit Little Comets play it simple; but catch, amaze and dazzle more than any off beat time signature ever could.
They wowed London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire with their noodling guitar riffs, pulsating grooves and anthemic choruses. These geordies most certainly looked the part too, with frontman Robert Coles sporting the compulsory high guitar, whilst bassist Matt Hall aesthetically evoked comparisons to The Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard. It was just so indie, and it wasn’t just them. The Empire drew in scores of delirious youngsters (and by young, we really mean it), whipped them up into a chaotic frenzy of moshing, and spat them back out to run wild on the capital’s streets. Blame the four at the front.
Bringing their own brand of spiky kitchen sink indie, Little Comets showcased material from both albums with each pleasantly receiving as enthusiastic reaction as the other. Of course the memorable classics such as the frantic ‘One Night In October’ and the frankly bonkers ‘Dancing Song’ got the room moving from front to back and up and down too, but it is their new found maturity that added that extra dimension to their live performance. ‘Waiting In The Shadows In The Dead Of Night' and 'Violence Out Tonight', incidentally explore break-up and rape respectively, but both brilliantly compliment the catchy indie anthems that we’ve come to love, leaving a wonderful mix of mellowness and joy and with it their set that more complete feel.
Coles and co. spoke little between songs, doing so mainly to thank the crowd in typically modest fashion, but did dedicate ‘Bridge Burn’ to a recently deceased fan, and ‘A Little Opus’ to “any Labour politician who spoke in Parliament today and said a positive thing about Margaret Thatcher.” One does wonder if that reference may have been lost on two-thirds of the crowd.
Not that it mattered, because Little Comets demonstrated why we fell in love with indie in the first place, by stripping it back to its roots and giving us the perfect excuse to dance around senseless without a single care in the world. If you want evidence as to why simplicity sometimes rings true, you needn’t look further than these four geordies.
Words by Luke Nightingale
Photos by Rosie Wadey
