20/3/2007 Towers Of London @ Islington Academy

Subject	Towers Of London @ Islington Academy
PostedDate	3/20/2007
	I'd been looking forward to this gig for a while, although very annoyingly Backyard Babies and Buckcherry were playing the Mean Fiddler the same night!  Fortunately, I'd managed to see Buckcherry the previous night at the Intrepid Fox so it could have been worse. I'd seen both bands late last year anyway so I can't complain too much. I was surprised when I heard this Towers Of London gig at Islington Academy had sold out - not only is it their biggest headline show to date, but also there was stiff competition from the Backyard Babies/Buckcherry show also in London on the same night. Virtuallyeverybody I know who would normally go and see Towers was going to the other show instead. However, I still found the Academy rammed when I arrived! As usual, Towers Of London put on an excellent show - and the crowd went pretty mental down at the front! This didn't help me in my attempts to get some decent pictures.  Although I have got some good pictures of the band at other gigs - this time there just wasn't the room to wield even a small camera - at the same time as having to fight just to stay on my feet in the pit or near the barrier. After a few less than successful shots my camera batteries ran out.  Being smart as I am, I brought some spare batteries with me.  They were safely stashed in my jacket, which was safely stashed in the cloakroom - that's how smart I really am.  I actually would have got the chance of a few good shots later in the set as well.  The band were on good form and provided an entertaining spectacle. The Rev was throwing shapes and firing off red hot licks from the moment the first song started.  Donny's style as a frontman seems to be evolving - not completely for the better in my opinion.  He appears to be working on his act, but there now seems to be far less of his own personality in there and far more of a typical generic frontman. I find his antics on stage less entertaining than they used to be - maybe it was just this show? I don't know.  Most of the band's debut album was included in the set, as well as a couple of new songs - the most memorable being 'I See You'. I was reading an interview in Metro on the tube the previous night where Donny claimed he had stopped his habit of throwing the mic stand into the crowd - a practice which backfired on him after it hit someone on the head one night and injured them - the guy subsequently had him charged with assault which resulted in a big fine.  "I've learned my lesson now though: there's no more microphone stand throwing for me". As the band triumphantly finished their set this night, Donny did chuck the mic stand into the crowd - fortunately without bloodshed on this occasion! Towers Of London have been subtly evolving over the last couple of years and slowing building things up - only to so very nearly throw it all away in Japan last year.  Now they not only seem to have pulled back from the brink with some excellent shows since the one best forgotten at the Borderline late last year, but tonight have gone down a storm at their biggest show to date. If tonight's show is anything to go by, they might just make it big after all - as long as they don't fuck up again like they did last year...