Review: Kids In Glass Houses @ HMV Birmingham

It is very rare I see support bands these days but tonight Birmingham’s very own ‘New Killer Shoes’ sounded surprisingly crystal and tight indeed and ended their short set with a superb stomp-a-thon and cacophony of instruments that would have been fitting to ending a headline set let alone a minor support slot… Definitely worth checking them out.

Around 8.30 PM Shirley Bassey’s brilliant ‘Gold Finger’ crackles through a thunderous PA system accompanied by some hugely effective Strobe lighting. Cardiff’s Kids In Glass Houses (KIGH) then erupt into opener ‘Gold Blood’ which sounds like the end of the world through music.

Seemingly unaffected by the earlier than usual stage time, the five piece follow this up with another track from new album ‘In Gold Blood’. It sounds lush but when all’s said and done KIGH are a ‘sing-a-long’ band and not knowing the words makes this a somewhat dull 3 minutes. You cannot fault them for their musical progression though as ‘In Gold Blood’ sounds to have everything previous album ‘Dirt’ lacked… lots of brilliant songs.

Next comes ‘Good Boys Gone Rad’, just one of many stand-out tracks from 2008′s debut album ‘Smart Casual’. That’s not a term you would use to describe Frontman Aled Phillips’s jacket though, which looks like a cast off from ‘The Lost Boys’ equipped with gold chains and ‘feathers sent from heaven’, the singer explains.

Check out the video for single ‘Animals’ below to see a close up.

Before playing two new songs, the first ‘Animals’ (which already sounds like an instant classic), and ‘Fire’ which nobody knows yet but give it time, the band play ‘For better Or Hearse’ probably the only stand out track from ‘Dirt’.

Incorporating a call and response ‘ooo-ooo-ooo’ into the middle 8th which confirms the audience is in the palm of Aled Phillips hand. He then tells the crowd that they can ‘get naked and run around in circles if they like’. It doesn’t happen, and as at least 50% of the audience here are 16 year old girls it’s just as well, but it gets a nice laugh regardless.

Firing off their 2 most recognised singles ‘Undercover Lover’ and ‘Matters at All’ which both sound better live than they do on record, they then end with prolific classic ‘Give Me What I Want’. A fitting way to end a most enjoyable evening from a band three albums in and yet to lose sight of what matters.

Fast forward to later and in a cosy Q and A with the fans Aled is asked what has been the most satisfying experience of being in Kids In Glass Houses up to now. He answers ‘Probably making this third album ‘In Gold Blood’, as lots of bands don’t get to make 3 albums these days and that’s down to you, so thank you’.

You’re welcome!

Aug11•Live Review•Matthew Cooper•Music