I told Gareth, who kindly bought our 4 tickets to this show, that I would be brutally honest about this band.
While Athlete has (have?) enjoyed success at the top of the UK charts (or maybe because they have enjoyed success at the top of the UK charts), they were too light for me.
I can see why fans love their Coldplay-esque style, but I've always looked for more brawn than ballad, more oomph than oompah, and more dirt than disco.
A perfect example was this week's edition of Later With Jools Holland. I don't know if it was truly "this week's" edition, as here in California the Ovation channel seems to broadcast, for no apparent reason, Glastonbury 2008 mid-way through 2010. Whatever, the music's usually of a very high standard.
Anyhow, this particular Jools Holland show included Athlete, and their antithesis (and one of my top 5 acts of all time), The Fall.
Mark E Smith (Fall founder and all around misery guts) is the only artist in the history of the show to have a clause in his contract inserted to state that Jools Holland will not play boogie-woogie piano over any of his songs. Another guest on the same show was Robert Plant, who turned up in a bullet-proof limo. The Fall were, as usual, transported by Salford Van Hire.
Athlete and The Fall are included here so you can form your own opinion, and then join the ranks of my family and friends who think The Fall stink.
Look out for next week's review of Mary Poppins versus Saw IV.
Athlete: Wires
The Fall: Blindness
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