Mr Writer

"It only takes one match, to burn a thousand trees"

From watching these guys 3 back to back years at V festivals back in Essex, I've been through different phases of emotion toward the Welsh trio. The first few albums are now marked as pure nostalgia trips for my early twenties; of times when driving was something I'd do to kill time whilst I waited for the months to tick by toward a snowboard trip or Summer camping trip shared with 70,000 others.

Then fame brought a couple of duff albums; I remember standing in front of one of those Chelmsford trees wondering if burning that tree might be a little more enjoyable than listening to the guys perform there latest material in front of a virtually lifeless crowd. Then I swore I'd never watch them again, but then in recent years, since my exhile to the rest of the world, two new albums that flipped my opinions back favourably, especially since they lost that drummer.

So here they were in my new hometown, playing at my regular gig haunt the Metro. The sound they carried (while pretty sharp) is that of a "best of" tour, one that makes individual songs seem amazing but altogether, a little disjointed as there evolving sound gets the big 'shuffle' applied to it.

It was fun, and it was great to see some faces I've now seen almost enough times to class them as friends, despite never saying hello. Thanks Kelly, 'Doorman' was my surprise favourite.