Band: Hurricane Party
Support: Tokyo Dragons, Renegade Playboys
Date: Saturday 21st February 2004
Venue: Metro’s, London
Rating: 5/5
If you were walking along Oxford Street tonight, you’d have no clue of the commotion going on in the modestly-sized downstairs Metro club. Round the corner, queues of ageing balding men in tight t-shirts and older women are already rapidly growing right around the Astoria to see Kylie Minogue at G-A-Y. If that wasn’t enough, the plethora of Oriental and American tourists is an unmissable reminder that it’s a Saturday night in the West End. However, a few hundred metres away, something quite different is taking place.
First on the Metro’s stage tonight is Renegade Playboys, followed by greasy-haired hard-rockers Tokyo Dragons. Whilst both support bands are simply ‘good’, neither quite prepare you for what’s to come next and the enthusiasm of the crowd for the headlining band is outstanding. As they come on stage (even after mingling with their friends and fans for the entire evening) the applause is immense: Hurricane Party has a seriously hardcore fan base who can rock out like the best of them. Opening with ‘She Comes From The Sun’, it is clear how much the quintet enjoy what they do best.
They charge on through their set: ‘Killer’, ‘Roadstar’, ‘Liar’, ‘Last Survivor’ and throw in – as frontman / vocalist Richie describes (in his Welsh accent) – a brand spanking new song, ‘All I Want’. Heavy riffs, guitar solos in unison, lyrical melodies and relentlessly energetic drumming fused together with an abundance of tight trousers, hair bleach and eyeliner; for an hour at Metro’s tonight it’s like you’re back in 1984.
It’s not often you get to enjoy a good band in such an intimate venue that you could just lean over and detune the bassist’s instrument mid-song. Neither do you get the opportunity to see a pair of orange latex trousers being worn with the confidence exuded by the platinum blonde mulletted bassist.
For their two-song encore, audience members are invited onto the stage, causing a manic clamber until the five band members are completely enshrouded with adoring fans. Without doubt, everybody has enjoyed tonight and all that is left is an unquenchable desire for more.
The fact that the band is so tight and can interact with the crowd and each other so well will mean that when (not if – they’ve already been acclaimed for their support shows on tour with the likes of Skid Row, Nickleback and Status Quo) they hit the big time, there’ll be a number of haters, accusing the band of unoriginality, being manufactured, wearing dodgy attire and sporting poodle perms. In fact, in the small corners of unsigned band reviews they’re already being compared to The Darkness. But it’s doubtful any amount of bitching will stand steadfast as Hurricane Party tornado into the big time.
- RED
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