Johnny Panic -
Joseph's Well, Leeds, October 24th
I'm trying really hard to think of something original to say about JP
but Jessica Trash's fantastic Cardiff review has ruined it for all of
us cos she's already said exactly what we're all thinking! Which is
'why the fuck aren't Johnny Panic massive?!'.
Well??
See, there's really no answer to that cos there's no reason on earth
why they shouldn't be massive, why they shouldn't be the band on everyone's
lips and outselling every achingly cool Razorlight/Kooks/every other
fuckin style-over-substance-we-sing-about-fuck-all-but-our-haircuts-are-better-than-yours
band out there. Before tonight I was a JP virgin cos everything revolved
around London n it's a logistical nightmare getting there. And sure,
I'd heard the songs n seen the videos a million times and banged on
about their greatness so often that my boyfriend has now resorted to
sighing 'why don't you just marry em?' every time I mention them, but
nothing quite prepared me for seeing them in the flesh - they were absolutely
mesmerising! Rob's such a physical singer, all flailing arms n facial
gestures, making sure his audience get what he's trying to say, while
Johnny, Matt and Sean are concentrating so hard on their instruments
they seem to be in worlds of their own. They went on so late that I
only managed to catch four songs before I had to get to the station
to catch the last train home (ten past fuckin eleven; see, this is what
comes of privatisation. But that's a whole nother rant...), but it didn't
really matter, I've seen them live and they're everything I hoped they'd
be and more. I haven't felt this strongly about a band since I first
heard the Manics and, strangely, one of their lyrics keeps popping into
my head - 'I am nothing and should be everything'. Not that I'm implying
JP are nothing, quite the opposite, they are everything, just not enough
people know it yet. They're the real deal, they've got something to
say and they're singing it loud n proud, they've got the music and the
punk as fuck attitude to back it up and they're too fuckin important
to become also-rans. The only real obstacles in their way are lack of
publicity and money and we can do something about at least one of those
things.
They played to about 15 people tonight, which is an absolute fuckin
joke. So, as Jess said, go, spread the word.
Fi Beckett, pix by Rosey
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