The Futureheads are a band from Sunderland, North-East England. You’ve probably heard of them, but might not’ve listened to them. Best known for their cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds of Love’ and their punky, new wave influenced indie, the band released their fourth album, The Chaos, in April this year. This evening, Thursday the thirteenth of May, they concluded their most recent tour at Northampton’s The Roadmender.

First up, Manchester band Dutch Uncles. When I first listened to this band on their Myspace I didn’t dislike them, but not a huge fan either. However, like most bands from Britain’s music capital, they completely surpassed expectations. Playing a mix of prog-pop and indie quite clearly partly inspired by Talking Heads (but not in a bad way) the young band were awesome. With their music creating an incredible atmosphere that had much of the audience dancing by the second or third song the band were also highly enjoyable to watch, with each member providing enough entertainment on their own. They played both songs that were potential pop sensations and songs that were equally perfect, yet in a less mainstream way. Probably the best first support I’ve seen since Cut Off Your Hands supported Black Kids, they left me, along with the rest of the crowd, excited for what the rest of the night could hold. Definitely a band to watch out for in future.

            Things were looking good. That is, at least until Frankie and the Heartstrings took the stage. Similarly to the headline, they also hailed from Sunderland and I cannot think of any other reason why they were chosen to partake in the tour. I did not enjoy them. I wasn’t a fan already after hearing their song ‘Hunger’ constantly litter the radio waves of 6music, with them seeming to be nothing more than rubbish, commercial NME indie and a bad rip off of an 80s band that were already so bad that they aren’t worth remembering. But I was willing to give them a chance; hoping that they may just not be good on record. However, entering the stage, I realised there was little point. Looking as if they’d just walked out of Topman and the pages of NME, they had sunk even lower in my ratings already. I know you shouldn’t judge a person’s music by the way they dress, but when they look like every other hipster band that’s ruining the music industry at the moment it’s hard not to. Unfortunately for them, they music was pretty average, probably not even that good. Maybe they should have spent more time on the music rather than just looking the part? As they played through a bore of a set made up of songs that all sounded the same I was increasingly irritated by the front man, who attempted to thrust his way around the stage like an 80 year old man who’d just overdosed on a cocktail of Viagra and Ecstasy. I’m worried that may give the impression that it was in any way enjoyable to watch. It wasn’t. It was nothing more than a very arrogant man proving that in reality he had little to be arrogant about. I think the only bit about watching him that I enjoyed was slagging him off between songs. However, I guess if you’re into having the NME telling you which music you can and can’t listen to, like I was a few years ago, I guess they’re worth a listen, you may enjoy them. If not, have a listen to them anyway, maybe you’ll feel different to me, but I doubt it. By the end of a set that consisted of only two near decent songs (one of which was Hunger, which was better live, but not a lot) my positive mood was in danger of vanishing.

            Fortunately, The Futureheads were headlining. Hope was not lost. And they were awesome. So awesome. An incredibly entertaining band that connected so well with a crowd, with front man Barry Hyde, dressed in a long tailed coat, a circus ring master of indie. Kicking off with the first song off their new album, also called ‘The Chaos’, they rocketed through a set made up of a mix of songs both old and new that included singles ‘First Day’, ‘Skip to the End’ and ‘Beginning of the Twist’. The crowd were fantastic, loving every minute, every member drenched in sweat. Of course, there were a few dick’eads who’d clearly just come down for a fight, but there always will be when a band plays this kind of music. The support bands returning to the stage and assisting the band in a glorious performance of ‘Hounds of Love’, with the crowd encouraged to add their own vocals in a manner that wouldn’t be out of place at a pantomime, was a particularly special moment. The happiness found at the conclusion of a clearly very successful and extremely enjoyable tour filled the room, not to mention the hearts of the bands, putting me in such a state of bliss that I didn’t at all mind the lack of ‘Le Garage’, my personal favourite, nor other crowd pleaser ‘Radio Heart’. I was, and still am, completely and utterly satisfied with the goods provided, beyond satisfaction in fact. If this is the standard of gigs we can expect from Roadmender’s new management then the future is looking very bright indeed.

Apologies for the massive rant about Frankie and the Heartstrings, especially if you were there and felt differently. I still feel reasonably happy with this, my first attempt at a review for quite a few years.