Japanese Voyeurs – The Sugarmill, Stoke-on-Trent 06/04/11

London-based five-piece Japanese Voyeurs, most often labelled with membership of what is being called the “grunge revival”, were dramatically outclassed by their support when they played a rescheduled show at Stoke’s 400-capacity Sugarmill on Wednesday night. They had their work cut out for them from the beginning; the crowd was slow to build in number, and reached its peak in front of a second local support band who proved to be an incredibly pleasant surprise, delivering a set of a variety and thrill that the visitors simply couldn’t match.

It was Stoke’s self-professed “goth ‘n’ roll” band Midnight Lycan Party who opened the show, however. This power trio played a loud and moody set which was high on musicianship – their bassist was particularly interesting to watch – but more middling in song terms. Credit must be given to the band for giving the show their all, given that their frontman had been ill until the day before; it’s easy to feel less charitable about his worrying comment that he might still throw up at any point, though – especially for those of us nearer the stage.

Enter Troops of Mafeking. Their clean, stylish logo which had been on the bass drum since the start of the show hinted that they were a very different prospect to the last band, and their appearance and playing further confirmed this. Put simply, it was a blisteringly terrific set. Here is an example of the consummate modern rock outfit, commanding songs that ranged in style from stadium-ready anthems worthy of Foo Fighters to terse, robotic rock to challenge Queens of the Stone Age. Add to this the almost incredible tightness with which they played and their affable, confident demeanor and the result was a crowd disarmed, exchanging impressed looks and each person so nearly willing to be the first to start dancing. Without doubt – this Stoke four-piece are a band to watch closely.

Easily explained, then, was any unease Japanese Voyeurs might have felt when they made their way onto the stage. A substantial number of punters had left the room after the Troops’ set had finished, and many of them had not returned; the crowd barely topped fifty people during the whole Voyeurs set, and the band’s confidence looked a little shaken. Romily Alice is a charismatic, energetic frontwoman, and wasn’t about to let the situation entirely dampen her enthusiasm, however. Her distinctively sinister but childlike voice is a divisive implement, which during this show ranged wildly from genuinely gripping to approaching self-parody for a few awkward seconds in during one song.

While the likes of ‘Milk Teeth’ and ‘Get Hole’ were fairly impressive in this live format, in order to truly engage Japanese Voyeurs must broaden and vary their sound, which too often came across as a brute force attack by comparison to the masterclass in adaptability that had preceded them. Indeed, their most enlivening performance was of a slightly curious take on Nine Inch Nails’ ‘Closer’, a fact which doesn’t reflect too well on their original material. Although they are headliners on this tour, it’s worth remembering that the Voyeurs have yet to release an abum, and they have plenty of time to remedy their lack of variety. That’s a fact though, that also underlines even further how wonderful and surprising the similarly-green Troops of Mafeking were. More than anything, the Voyeurs’ decision seemingly cut their set very short reflected the fact that this was simply not their night to shine.