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The Coral, Leed Uni

By Pete Sivey Tuesday 2 December 2003

Rock n’ Roll bands find themselves in a serious quandary in The Modern Age: How to sound fresh and exciting with the tired old guitars, drums and singer formula. Some groups resort to a contrived attempt at futurism, see Muse’s apocalyptic wailing and almost all ‘nu’-metal. Others evoke a ‘classic’ period in rock’s history, trying to capture some of its success. An example is Jet’s passable imitation of ‘70s Rolling Stones. Bands like The Coral however seem able to relax their genre paranoia and draw from a large recipe book of sounds and influences. This allows their inventiveness and songwriting to speak for themselves.

At ‘The Refectory’, Leeds Student Unions’ only slightly grander version of Derwent dining hall, The Coral are preaching to the converted. After paying absolutely no attention to interesting support band ‘Mountaineers’, the young studenty crowd squeal with delight as new single ‘Bill McCai’ opens the set.

First album material seems to get the best reception, simply because of how well it converts to a live setting compared with the more laid back ‘Magic and Medicine’ songs. The outstanding ‘Goodbye’ is simply electric with Bill Ryder-Jones’ guitar riffs gloriously piercing through the band’s sound. Almost equally good is ‘Waiting For The Heartaches’ who’s slow skanking reggae verse is contrasted by a raucous live version of the song’s stomping chorus and guitar solo.

Unfortunately, a dedication to playing all the singles ensures the dull ‘Don’t Think You’re the First’ is played at the expense of more deserving second album songs. Notably, the brilliant ‘Talkin Gypsy Market Blues’ is left out despite being the most danceable song on ‘Magic and Medicine’. Another disappointment is the much-anticipated ‘Skeleton Key’ which is accelerated to twice its original tempo to resemble a confusing happy-hardcore hoedown.

In general, the band seemed to emphasise and extend the instrumental interludes in their songs to great effect. This trait was most obvious in their final song, ‘Migraine’, a taster from their forthcoming (Spring 2004) album which finished with a wall of noise even Spiritualized would have been proud of.

Overall, the gig was something of a tour de force. The Coral seem confident of their position in Britain’s rock landscape, having carved out a group of loyal fans willing to be impressed by every musical avenue the band explores.

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