For some reason every time I see the Stereophonics live I think of the first time when I saw them perform. Way back in 1996 they were playing a sweaty pub off Grafton Street in Dublin at the In the City music conference which for that year had moved from Manchester. Tony Wilson was in attendance which meant that the gig was assured of a review Hot Press, the local Dublin music magazine.
The band had just signed to Richard Branson’s new record label V2, which at the time was being run by my old Sony boss Jeremy Pearce. Jeremy being loyal sort of chap had set up a distribution deal with the now defunct distributor 3MV and I spent most of the gig being told that they were going to be the new Oasis from various people on the pay role hoping to replicate the same success.
Having seen Oasis three years earlier in a sweaty pub, this time the Water Rats in Kings Cross, I felt somehow qualified to offer my opinion to my former colleagues, and whoever was prepared to listen to my drunken ramblings. The words that I used to describe them back then and resonate to this day and are “grounded”, “mature”, “accomplished” and “terribly dreary”. I mean why listen to The Stereophonic’s whilst there were still Clash and Dr. Feelgood records in your local record store?
Well 14 years old The Stereophonics are still producing the same predictable meat and two veg rock which despite being terribly MOR is being lapped up by a packed O2 arena. That said Kelly Jones the lead singer/guitarist is looking very well and has hardly aged at all over the past decade.
The bands stage performance is very limited with Kelly Jones being surrounded by monitors which box him into a tiny part of the stage, that said the audience are not here for the stage antics but the hits which they have by the truckload. The onstage banter is limited so Kelly focuses on churning them out in a perfunctory manner. The set starts off with an oldie “My life in a tramps vest” followed by the glam rock influenced “Trouble”, “The Bartender and the Thief” and “Have a nice day”. By the time I left the arena the entire auditorium was being lit up by the screens of a thousands of mobile phones, if in doubt check out You Tube which no doubt has hundreds of versions of each song.
Written by John Rahim
