16/10/2008 Towers Of London @ ULU

Subject	Towers Of London @ ULU
PostedDate	10/16/2008
	I was looking forward to this gig, but not expecting too much to be honest. I think the small gig in Harlow earlier this year was just a low profile tryout for the new lineup and new songs. With that in mind I was expecting the band to take it up a gear and really go for it at their first London show in over a year. I thought beforehand that playing a venue the size of U.L.U. was rather optimistic after over a year away and no radio play of promotion since then - even at their height I think they would have struggled to sell this venue out. I arrive just after nine and there is hardly anyone there. Quite a few more people appear by the time the band come on, but even then I reckon the place is only about quarter full.  As the band come on the intro to the first song is some terrible pop keyboard thing. I'm already thinking WTF? but maybe they are just being 'ironic'. I'm not so sure though... When the air raid siren used to start up just before the band came on there was a real sense of drama and excitement - you really felt that something was about to happen - and it usually did. This new keyboard bit just sounds crap.  The band seem to be downplaying everything now - the old image has gone. No more slogan painted vests and big hair - everything that used to be fun and make the band stand out has gone. Now they just seem so very average - like a typical indie band.  The band play well enough and the new guitarist is certainly an improvement on Kristian Marr, but nearly all the passion and excitement of old has gone along with the original lineup. Donny is a good frontman and can certainly do better than this. The old excitement and danger is noticably missing - this is like a show being played just for a few mates and the remaining hardcore fans down at the front. These people are totally uncritical and will always lap up anything the band will do - good or bad. The band don't even have to try to please these people. This isn't a bad show, it's just not very good. The Towers Of London of old seem to have been replaced by a bland and very average band who now seem to be more interested in being a pop group rather than a rock band. The band seem to have lost their direction in what is probably a critical 'make-or-break' phase of their career as they try to relaunch themselves and promote their new album Fizzy Pop. There are a couple of memorable songs on the new album like 'Naked On The Dancefloor' and 'Start The Rupt', but most of the songs they play tonight from that 'difficult second album' make little impression and are noticably not as good as most of the stuff on 'Blood Sweat & Towers'. They only play about three songs from the first album - a mistake in my opinion as 'Air Guitar' leaves most the new stuff for dead. 'Fizzy Pop'? What were they thinking? The album title is nearly as bad as it's cover artwork. Actually, I held off buying the new album as I thought I'd get it from the band's merch stand at the gig - only there wasn't a Towers Of London merch stand!  Both the support bands had merch stands selling their CDs and T-shirts etc, but Towers had nothingon sale - what the hell's going on?  If the band (or rather their management) can't even get something as basic as this sorted out a Towers Of London comeback seems as likely as snow in London in October... As it used to say on my old school reports - 'Could try harder'.  I think this show raises more questions than it answers. Has their 'Fizzy Pop' gone flat before the bottle has even been opened? Have they blown it? I suspect a lot of people already think that as people seem to be voting with their feet and many faces I used to see at virtually every Towers gig are conspicuous by their absence tonight. Time will tell...