The Hold Steady – HMV Forum, London 22/06/10

29 June 2010, 09:30 | Written by Adam Elmahdi

(Live)

I’m not sure whether the rumour that the Kentish Town Forum once hosted meetings for the British Union of Fascists is true or not, but regardless, there sure ain’t anything right about the place. Whilst it’s nice that, post-Astoria, there’s still venues of this size that don’t resemble the inside of a mass-produced storage unit, the Forum has the most unfortunate tendency to render even the most exhilarating bands an impotent squall of indistinguishable noise.

A case in point: support band Cymbals Eat Guitars. The precocious youngsters tend to cover the fact they steer a little too close to their influences (Modest Mouse, Wilco, Built To Spill) by delivering performances bristling with furious, scintillating energy. But, tonight, despite Joseph D’Agostino roaring so hard that by the end it sounded like someone had shoved a cheese-grater down his throat, the set never really took off. Not the most diverse of bands in any case, the terrible acoustics robbed them off any subtlety they may have had, and although the performance was far from an unmitigated disaster, it certainly wasn’t their finest hour.

As for the Hold Steady, the dodgy sound was mitigated in no small part by the infinitely effervescent Craig Finn, one of the most genuinely enthusiastic frontman you’ll ever see. Like the slightly embarrassing uncle living his dreams of being Springsteen, his uncoordinated but spirited attempts at dancing and tendency to forget to sing into the microphone when over-excited makes him the saving grace of a band that’s too reliant on undistinguished filler. There’s only so much mileage a balding man on the wrong side of 35 can derive from getting drunk, laid and high -or combinations thereof- and over ninety minutes the formula starts to wear rather thin. It’s a shame because at their best their boozy anthemics are second to none (‘Chips Ahoy’, ‘Sequestered In Memphis’), and certainly the audience seemed to be lapping it up, but for those not entirely sold on their sound there’s just not enough variety there.