12/9/2008 Backyard Babies @ U.L.U.

Subject	Backyard Babies @ U.L.U.
PostedDate	9/12/2008
	I was hoping to arrive early enough to catch Skintight Jaguars, but it's always a struggle getting to shows early enough to see the first band on the bill if I've been at work all day.  Unfortunately I arrived during their last song.  It was good to see them playing to such a large crowd though, and they seemed to go down pretty well - I noticed their merch stand was very busy later so it looks like they did themselves some good.  Next were Crucified Barbara. To be honest I wasn't that bothered about catching them as my only experience of them previously was hearing a song on a Changes One Records EP a few years ago, and they sounded bloody awful!  I have heard people say some good things about them since though, and to be fair they seem to have come on a lot. I have to say that I thought they sounded very average tonight, although not actually bad. They seemed to go down very well with the (mostly male) crowd at the front though. I'm sure the fact that the band were hot looking Swedish girls had nothing to do with it...  It's now ten years since I saw Backyard Babies for the first time - at this same venue. That was a great show, made all the more memorable by the band having Hanoi Rocks frontman Mike Monroe join them onstage for a couple of songs.  The band have been great every time I've seen them since, and now have a string of good albums under their belt. I think this is a sold out show - it's certainly pretty full even when the first band were playing. Backyard Babies have built up a reputation as being a shit-hot live band so it's only to be expected. This is a pretty good show, although inevitably these days the band's sets tend to be 'greatest hits' affairs. I've definitely seem them better though. Time marches on and to be fair, can you really expect a band to still have the same fire in their bellies after over ten years of recording and touring? They do seem a little older and more tired these days, but they now have a strong back catalogue to draw on. You can't reasonably not expect a band to have changed over ten years, but they haven't changed a great deal and are still a very good live band even if they don't have quite the same energy level they once had. One change for the better is their noticably improved songwriting, although they had some gems even in their early days. I'm not too sure about the drummer's new ponytails though!  I have complained over the past few years about their song 'Bombed (Out Of My Mind)' from their classic 'Total 13' album being omitted from their live sets - although several years ago Nicke promised to include it on the next tour. It didn't happen. This song has always been special for me since it blew me away the first time I heard it on the radio - I didn't know what band it was, but I knew straight away that I had to go and see them live. They haven't played 'Bombed...' for years, but tonight they dropped it in the encore.  Although I wasn't amazed by the show tonight, just hearing that particular song at the end just made it for me and I went home happy!