For the first time in Osale Rooms short history there is a phenomenon tonight that has occurred never before – an under-18′s night.
Now let’s get things straight, I’m not a fan of under-18′s nights. There’s many reasons for my disdain, but mainly because that the audience for these tween gigs will have an average age of about 15 or 16. Since I am 23, this does not look good for me attending such specialist gigs. Mostly though this usually means that alcohol isn’t readily available. I am not a fan of this rule.
So will Osale Rooms, and headliners 7 Day Weekend change my mind?
Well the night begins with all ticket-holders being asked their age, if you are over-18 you get a wristband which enables you to buy alcohol from the first floor bar. This is a win so far. So now that I’ve had one problem quelled, will the bands be able to show that they can rub shoulders with the big boys of Warrington? Well there are no less than 4 support bands on tonight, so 7 Day Weekend are clearly ambitious. I arrive to hear ‘The Thought Police’ playing. They sound good, Billie-Darian Hollyhead is particularly impressive with her thunder-drumming skills and they attract a fairly decent crowd. Their songs aren’t world-beating but they have enough talent that with time and experience, they can definitely become a great band. However their cover of the Oasis classic ‘Morning Glory‘ needs to be changed for something else. The music is perfect, but frontman Ryan Geraghty’s vocals just don’t have the rasp that’s needed to cover a song of that magnitude well. Still though, a definite one to watch in time to come.
But alas at around 9.30 pm 7 Day Weekend take to the stage, and Osale Rooms’ top floor begins to fill dramatically. There is a sizeable crowd gathered. The young audience came for some pop-rock and that’s exactly what they’re treated to. Anthemic guitars and verses with drums, bass and vocals are littered aplenty throughout their songs. And it’s all very…ok. 7 Day Weekend perform well to what their music is, and their audience loves it. But it simply doesn’t work that well for me. This is not to say that it’s bad music, it just doesn’t fit that well for me. Still, I’m particularly impressed with 7 Day Weekend’s playing ability. It’s tight, there are hardly any lost notes in their arsenal. They actually perform too, with included synchronised po-going. Frontman Calan Nickle is energetic, and commands the crowd well.Their finale, a cover of Taio Cruz’s ‘Dynamite’ is perticularly inspired. So it’s not at all bad.
So has this gig convinced me that under-18′s gigs are as good as adult gigs? In a word, no. But it does show that you can do a lot worse than see 7 Day weekend live.
3/5
Written by Mike Glover for Prince Baron Records
