It’s not so often these days I’m so excited after a gig that I have to write about it the moment I get home, but this is one of those occasions. Tonight I saw Popjustice’s Wonky Pop tour, starring Frankmusik (girl drummer with great hair), Leon Jean Marie (no-one cheered for the single :() and the amazing amazing ALPHABEAT.
It was my 2nd time seeing them, but just as good as the first, and nice to hear 2 songs I’d never heard before, plus the tour singalong of Digital Love. That song is good in its original form but total brilliance when made into a cheery pop singalong, and when it comes straight after Fascination, which is straight after Touch Me, Touching You, it’s almost euphoric! Alphabeat are so fantastically jolly, cute and poptastic that I can’t quite believe they are real, because they are a realisation of the band I always dreamed would exist. I also felt incredibly proud, remembering 15 months ago when I gave them their first UK interview, and they modestly said “Sorry, but we don’t have any plans about the UK so far.”
What really pleased me about tonight was that it wasn’t, as I expected, just your typical Popjustice reader group, but also (and in fact this was the majority) loads of bright young people. I don’t know if I could say pop is as popular as it was ten years ago, but more unbelievably, it actually seems to be cool, cos these people weren’t just average nice kids, they were the real trendy (in a fun, unobnoxious way) types – my friend and I (both 20) felt quite the frumps in comparison! I don’t want to seem snobbish by wanting my fave bands to be liked by this audience, but it pleases me because they are hard to get on side, especially when it comes to pop music, and once a band has achieved that the media should (unless mad) really take notice.
Considering Alphabeat are often called “the Danish S Club 7”, and it’s not unfitting, it’s incredible that they could be cool, and for me it’s very heartwarming – I felt tonight that it may just be possible for this generation to rebel, as young people are supposed to, against the beliefs forced upon them by their elders (eg. Jo Whiley, NME) that it is not cool to like pop music. Anyone who saw tonight’s gig will see that not only is it cool, but it’s a million times more fun than the dire indie or rock bands that we youngsters are supposed to like. And Alphabeat have even genuinely been marketed as pop – this tour has ‘pop’ in its title twice! Of course, filling a small venue with excited teenagers is not indicative of ruling the world, but they’ve got the right people on side and now the UK music scene is their oyster. I’ll tell you now, I’d put money on 10,000 Nights becoming a number 1 hit. Even if it isn’t, it’s still going to be massive and so are Alphabeat!