Mansun De Montfort University Arena 3.11.00
Now, before you Mansunettes track me down and kill me let me get one thing clear. I LIKE Mansun, Attack of the Grey Lantern is one of the standout albums of the nineties.
OK that’s clear, let’s get on with the review.
The gig starts well enough with an energetic ‘Take It Easy Chicken’ followed by A version of ‘I can Only Disappoint You’ in which Mansun are disappointed by their lighting man as they are plunged in to darkness for the whole song. To their credit they continue unabated. On the face of it things are all great, but something’s missing. That’s it! They haven’t progressed since last time I saw them five years ago. In fact back then they were fucking great. They stormed the place with a set reminiscent of early Guns and Roses. This time round it was all a little too polished and safe. The new songs, good as they are (I had ‘Electric Man’ buzzing round my head for hours afterwards) just seem to be more of the same formula. Presentation wise the only on stage difference seems to be the acquisition of Spinal Taps old keyboard player, and Paul Drapers Shane Ritchie style poncing around. The set is competent and still better than many bands could ever manage, but Mansun need to make the leap to the next stage.
HoBo Says "Come on boys, you can do better than this"
