MEN @ Nice 'N' Sleazy, 9 June

Article by Chris Buckle | 15 Jun 2011

Last year, Michael O’Neill discussed MEN’s live aspirations. "We believe a live show should be much more than playing songs on a record," he declared, promising "multi-media, mostly in the form of visual sculptural elements." Presumably plans changed en route to Glasgow; a cardboard house-hat and natty homemade threads aside, tonight’s entertainment is firmly conventional.

With support acts AWOL and the room half full, spectacle might have helped spark the evening into life a little more promptly, though with hooks galore, it’s only a matter of time before limbs loosen. A midway Who Am I To Feel So Free feels like the turning point, with Credit Card Babies building the momentum and being duly rewarded with copious shape-throwing. JD Samson and co close with a cover of Bikini Kill’s Double Dare Ya – a respectful nod to fellow Le Tigre member Kathleen Hanna which unfortunately highlights this evening’s comparative lacklustre. [Chris Buckle]

 

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