The Bluetones have taken some time out from recording their third album to do a few warm-ups for a Spanish festival appearance. Last night was the first live outing in eight months for the band, and they were understandably nervous about airing their new songs for the first time. But last night's excellent gig has obviously given the band more confidence in themselves, Mark Morriss even attempted a personal first - singing, playing guitar and standing up at the same time!!

They begin with 'Solomon Bites The Worm', the opening riff enough to bring the first wave of crowd-surfers over our heads, to be dealt with by draconian-like security. 'Zorro' was the first new song. The chopping guitar chords in the intro are reminiscent of 'Kevin Carter' by the Manic Street Preachers, but the melody and chorus in 'Zorro' put the Bluetones in an entirely different league. A cover of The Left Banke's 'Pretty Ballerina' is next, followed by their first singles 'Are You Blue Or Are You Blind?' and 'Bluetonic'.
These songs were obviously crowd favourites and took the audience back to the first time they heard the band and decided that they were something special. Other new songs, 'Keep The Home Fires Burning' and 'Last Of The Great Navigators' were huge, melodic epics, with Mark on acoustic guitar adding more fullness to their sound.
But the real success of the night was 'Autophilia', written by Richard Payne. It is certainly one of the best songs they have ever written, the type that stays in your head for months afterward. It will surely become the standout track on the album, like 'Bluetonic' on 'Expecting To Fly' and 'If…' on 'Return To The Last Chance Saloon'. 'Cut Some Rug' re-ignites the crowd-surfing and all too soon the band leave the stage. A few years ago the Bluetones would refuse to come back on for an encore, but now they realise that it's just too cruel, you can't leave a venue full of people chanting your name without giving them one last fix. And so Eds and Richard re-emerge onstage, Eds announcing through Mark's microphone that they are, "…going to try something here." Most of the crowd seem bemused as Scott Morriss comes running onstage and begins to sing an unfamiliar song.

We soon realise (a few of us were treated to an acoustic version of this song by Richard and Eds the day before in Leeds) that the song is 'It's A Boy', written for Eds by Richard and Scott, just before the birth of his son in March. It understandably raised the biggest cheer of the night! A new instrumental, 'Bloodbubble', then 'One Speed Gearbox' brought us to the final song, 'If…'. It is an amazing song, but knowing this was the last we will hear of the Bluetones until next year, it was hard to totally enjoy it. All too soon the night had come to an end and the band left us for the final time, having confirmed their place as one of the best live acts around.

(first published on dotcom website - october 99)