Jack Penate // Concorde2

Oh Dear.

I didn’t know what to expect at all. Normally going to something like this with little or no expectations leads to me being overwhelmingly impressed. But unfortunatly this time, that senario just didn’t happen.

I went with little/no expectations at all, and still left feeling raped of my time.

For those of you who know me your probably having difficulty understanding why I was here at all. So allow me to briefly set a little ’scene’ for you. (Sorry about the EMO ’scene’ pun – it even worse that i felt the urge to apologise for it. Don’t worry it was just a literary trick to draw attention to and emphasise my clever ’scene’ joke!)

I went down there for a friends birthday open for the experience and from what I’d heard on radio and from people in general I was prepared for a good time at least.

I walked through the fabled C2 doors to be confronted with a late night babysitting club. It looked like I’d walked into a youth club. Confronted by so much fresh faced youth, vigor, energy and over excitement I done the only thing any normal person would do. Dulled the impact by skulling a JD and coke and following that, a red stripe.

So I walk into the main room, looked to the infamous stage, which has hosted legends, and what do I see standing on the stage but the member of wheatus that never made it. Someone clearly old enough to know better dressed like one of the ‘teenage dirtbags’ who came to cheer him on.

Musically the band was tight. Although Penate’s semi punk acoustic nonsence spoilt any hope of taking anything worth while from the night. Massively unimpressed i tried to walk out for a slash and to buy a packet of fags. I thought that if the mediocraty of the music didn’t help me out and kill me I could always fall back on good old fashioned lung cancer. But the real kick in the teeth was that I wasn’t allowed back stage. I guess they needed room for all the underage groupies that would no doubt be there any minute, doing whatever they needed to so in order to stay out of the bouncers eyeline whilst the after hours clubnight errupted around them.

I think the thing that upset me most was the obvious passion that these kids felt for this guys music. Patronising though it may seem, im gonna say this anyway. A) beacuse no-one else will, and B) because I’ve been a bastard all my life and im not changing now. When I was there age I cared about music. I had The Chemical Brother’s – Exit Planet Dust in my CD player and I didn’t take it out for a year. If I wanted Punk I’d listen to the Pistols – Rock – The Stones, EMO, well it didn’t fucking exist, thank fuck. And if it did and I’d wanted anything to do with it I’d have found something better and more original and worthwhile to listen to. Poor miss-guided fools.

I felt sorry for the kids. I was miffed by the whole thing and I got in for free. If I’d have paid I’d have wanted my money back. But some of the people there actually seemed happy to pay the door tax to watch this trite. I’d rather they took their £10 and bought a copy of Wolfmother – or Bebber and Tamra’s Suite Beat Boy if I was Penate. The one good thing that the kids must take from seeing Jack on stage is the simple fact that if he can make it. So can anyone.

The real kick to the face was watching him play a cover of Beat’s International’s – Dub Be Good To Me. That hurt. On Normans stage for gods sake. Practically pissing on his alter. Insultingly terrible. The idea was good. Its the kind of thing that had it been done well, it could have been life changing. It just wasn’t.

Anyway that was the end of a short, pointless and uneventfull gig. I couldn’t stomach the talk on the way out – I tried to stop my ears from hearing people say he was the highlight of their Glastonbury, but I couldn’t. Although my mind recolied at the thought. That truth was said and heard. I cried out that surley The Who or The Chemical Brothers must have been better but they said not. All they said was that Penate was the new Jamie T.

At which point I gave up living and left.

Bucket of Shite.

Concorde2
http://www.concorde2.co.uk/

Madeira Shelter Hall,
Madeira Drive
Brighton
BN2 1EN

Telephone: 01273 697888
Booking office: 01273 673311
Fax: 01273 696157

info@concorde2.co.uk

Words: 3 0 3 t i l l i d i e