shop | mailing lists
musicOMH
Facebook Twitter
music: gig reviews
Three Colours Red
@ University, Manchester, 3 April 2003
Back in the country for a small bout of dates, the reformed brit-rockers live is always something special. The Academy venue in the student's union is remarkably spacious, and as the band took to the stage, remained sporadically full.

A down tuned drum beat ushers in the Red. It seems as though things are back to normal. Pete Vuckovic (vocals/bass) is once again donning a suit and tie. Chris McCormack (guitar) remains forever black-clad, with a few more tattoos to show.

Opening with upcoming single Repeat/Fade two years on hiatus has left the Vuckovic/McCormack music machine hungry to rock. It is quite simply, one of the band's heaviest songs, with a riff that Angus Young of ACDC would happily give a thumbs up to. It ain't gonna reach the top ten, but it sure as hell rocks.

Songs such as Nerve Gas, Paranoid People, Pure and a barnstorming This Is My Hollywood reminds one why this band was on the brink of stardom for a while. The set is enlivened by McCormack's OTT rock star poses that it looks like he's been practising in the mirror since aged 10.

Vuckovic has admitted that his songwriting has been influenced recently by the post-9/11 world, and new song Land Of Debris was the proof of this. A quick rant at Bush and Blair preceded the song, which is a cruel take on the so-called 'Land Of The Free'. Beginning with a calmed singover, before getting heavy and bursting into a spleen-endangering chorus, Vuckovic was right when he told me to "expect the unexpected" before the show.

Pirouette and crowd favourite Fit Boy And Faint Girl followed before another newie was slipped in. Made In Indonesia showcases Vuckovic's new found appetite for socio-economics. This was the most promising of the new songs tonight, with a gorgeous guitar/drum interlude reminiscent of The Stone Roses' I Wanna Be Adored.

After a quick deviation from the planned set when a large, well endowed female was invited to join the band for a spot of dancing to Mental Blocks, we were treated to another political song The World Is Yours, which was a raw heavy belter of a song. After the greatest hits had whizzed by, Vuckovic performed an acoustic rendition of B-side Everything.

"I'm not fucking Kelly Jones," Vuckovic joked before the band rejoined him for the luscious Beautiful Day and an extended closer Nuclear Holiday which was undoubtedly the set highlight.

They came to the stage as returning heroes and departed having conquered the northern ground, with sweat and smiles strewn across their faces. The most important thing about being back together was "just being happy man," Pete had said.

It's good to see them back and enjoying it, which is what it's all about in the end.

share
end of year feature
musicOMH's Top 50 Albums Of 2009
From the nearly 700 albums we reviewed this year, which did our writers love the most?
Introduction
50-41 | 40-31 | 30-21
20-11 | 10-4 | 1-3

now in music
ALBUMS OUT THIS WEEK: David G Cox, Lou Rhodes, Dan Le Sac vs Scroobius Pip, Christopher Lee, The Automatic, The Moons...

INTERVIEW: Jaga Jazzist talk prog

INTERVIEW: Editors' Tom Smith opens up

FEATURE: Glee: The Music

GIG REVIEWS: Kate Nash, Four Tet, She Keeps Bees, John Cale, Broken Bells, FM Belfast

more live music reviews
    1. Kate Nash @ Bethnal Green Working Men's Club, London
    2. She Keeps Bees @ Lexington, London
    3. Four Tet @ Club Academy, Manchester
    4. Songs In The Key Of Old London @ Barbican, London
    5. First Aid Kit @ Union Chapel, London
    6. John Cale @ Royal Festival Hall, London
    7. Jaga Jazzist @ Islington Academy, London
    8. Broken Bells @ ICA, London
    9. FM Belfast @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London
    10. Lady GaGa @ O2 Arena, London
    11. Los Campesinos! @ KOKO, London
    12. Ungdomskulen + The Good The Bad @ Lexington, London
    13. HURTS @ Wilton's Hall, London
    14. Yeasayer @ Heaven, London
    15. We Are Scientists @ Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen, London
    16. Girls @ Scala, London
    17. Imogen Heap @ Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
    18. Beach House @ Bush Hall, London
    19. Spoon @ Electric Ballroom, London
    20. tUnE-yArDs @ Cargo, London
    21. The Irrepressibles @ Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
related articles
INTERVIEW:
3 Colours Red

ALBUM:
3 Colours Red - The Union of Souls

TRACK:
3 Colours Red - The World Is Yours

GIG:
3 Colours Red @ Manchester University, Manchester

GIG:
3 Colours Red @ Islington Academy, London



  more live reviews...



musicOMH
about us
contact
copyright
home
elsewhere
Twitter
Facebook
Last.fm
Soundcloud
MySpace
© 1999-2010 OMH