The Concretes
Live @ The Luminaire, London, 06/06/07
Tonight saw the debut of the new slimmed down and shaken up line up of The Concretes playing to a sardine packed Luminaire. Minus Victoria Bergsman, vocal duties are now taken care of by drummer-turned-vocalist Lisa Milberg. Phil Collins eat your heart out. Milberg still needs to gain a shade more stage presence, as she came across with a reassuring charm, but needed to give her between-song banter a bit more gusto. However, this can be forgiven when you consider she's spent the last five years hitting skins for the band. The band's eleventh London gig to date was a definite triumph, especially when you consider what a torrid time the band have had over the last year. The band entered the stage to the instrumental chimes of album title track "Hey trouble" which acted as a very gentle rallying cry to war. There was a definitive air of survivorship around them, which possibly was a reaction of the crowd making the band feel like they were playing some kind of homecoming gig. Rather than a comeback, this was the rebirth of The Concretes.
- Nick Levine