Easyworld
6th March 2004, University of Liverpool

As the mammoth ‘Kill the Last Romantic’ tour comes to an end, the Easyworld show rolls into Liverpool, supported by local scouse boys, The Aeroplanes and tour residents, The Upper Room.

With the ink not yet dry on their contract with label giant Sony, Brighton foursome The Upper Room gave a performance to suggest the A&R men at Sony deserve their cash…Lemar aside obviously.

Despite looking young enough to leave you wondering whether he was up past his bedtime, vocalist Alex showed he could cut it live and was ably supported by bandmates, Jimbob (guitar), Bo (bass) and Jonny (drums).

When Easyworld amble on stage for opener ‘Kill the Last Romantic’, the combination of neon lighting and dry-ice gives the impression of an eerie Hollywood B-movie. The touching track is short but sweet and offers the crowd a snippet of the delights that lie ahead.

Second track ‘Celebrity Killer’ shows Easyworld can rock with the best of them, but surprisingly the gig really gets going four songs in, with vintage Easyworld track ‘This is Where I Stand’, taken from their 2002 album of the same name. This is an obvious crowd-pleaser, but when followed by recent single ‘Till the Day’, lets us see just how far the band have come in those two years.

“My beloved scousers, here’s a song for you in an otherwise grubby universe”…The heartfelt rock ballad exercises the stunning vocals of trilby clad frontman Dav Ford and varying dynamics of ‘Till the Day’ would leave even the most cynical hard pushed to control the hairs on the back of their necks.

The coupling of ‘Demons’, “a song about the wonderful thing that is persevering in the face of adversity” and ‘Saddest Song’, “a song about the wonderful thing that is giving up in the face of adversity”, ensure there’s no dip in the energy of the performance at this mid-point in the set.

Although the gig sees no airing of recent hit ‘2nd Amendment’, the bitterness of sequel ‘When you come back…’ shows exactly why it joined the Top 40 last October.

‘Junkies & Whores’, “a song about you” gives the band a chance to play a smattering of Outkast’s brilliant ‘Hey Ya’ and the results clearly delight the crowd in this penultimate track of the set.

The encore leaves time for just one song, but what a song that is. “My dear Liverpudlian friends, we’ve come to the part of the set that we call the end. We have a song especially made for moments such as this…”

‘Goodbye’ could be a one song showcase for Easyworld. Its binary structure sees the song go from poignant drama to a crescendo of sheer rock that gives understatedly sexy drummer Glenn and sultry bass goddess Jo, a chance to shine - an entirely fitting end for a show that has done the same.

Set List

Kill the last romantic
Celebrity Killer
Drive
This is Where I Stand
Till The Day
Armistice
Demons
Saddest Song
All I Can Remember
Tonight
When You Come Back…
Junkies & Whores
Goodnight

Words and Pictures by Jude Stone and Jemma Volp-Fletcher