Freebass @ King Tut's, 3 Jun

Excitement fills the air of a crammed King Tut's as the audience patiently waits for much hyped ‘super-group’ Freebass to take the stage. The band, featuring Peter Hook (Joy Division, New Order), Mani (Stone Roses, Primal Scream) and Gary Briggs (Haven), have heavyweight credentials – but having come to witness a spectacle, the crowd is instead treated to a sham. The superstars misfire embarrassingly on their opening song and never quite seem to recover.

The performance is dull, void of energy and reeks of pub-rock: the music a mediocre and confused genre mélange of indie-pop, electro, funk and even dub. It may well be down to the absence of ex-Smiths bassist Andy Rourke – also a member of Freebass, “stuck in New York” according to Hook – but more likely it’s due to the grim fact that Freebass is simply not much more than the half-baked ego-project of rock stars whose glory days have long since passed. [Ryan J Gallagher]