For a band so proud of their Midlands roots, the ominous sounding show title of JOHNNY FOREIGNER VS BIRMINGHAM felt out of the ordinary for Digbeth-based trio Johnny Foreigner. This was no ordinary show though, with six bands and 200 sweaty kids crammed into the cavernous gig room at the Flapper (the most difficult venue to find ever… we had to walk across a plank of wood over a canal to get there) for a six-hour love-in of optimism and nostalgia in celebration of Johnny Foreigner vs Everything, the band’s epic third album.
According to the billing, kicking things off was Richard Burke. What actually happened was the long-awaited reunion of the Starries, turn of the century indie rock legends *adoring applause*. They roared through a rapid set of dodgy tuning, missed notes and, most importantly, some absolute classics, interspersed with Burke’s constant bantering with a heckler, later found to be his paraletic best mate in the front row. It was a triumphant set, one which sated the gathering of yesteryear's indie kids in the audience and hopefully converted a fresh batch of fans to a genuinely excellent band who influenced more of their current favourites than they’d ever believe.
Next up were locals Ace Bushy Striptease, who gave a likely first taste of their unique brand of cutesy indie pop infused with some crushing breakdowns and occasional screaming. For a fresh, young band, the set was tight (albeit a little rushed) and showed great promise. Their albums are available for free here.
Calories were up next and, frankly, were a disappointment – their debut album is fantastic, but as they drawled mid-set, “we just don’t play old songs”, apologising with all the sincerity of Silvio Berlusconi apologising about cocaine-fueled prostitute parties, before rushing through a similarly insincere set.
After that, Screaming Maldini really couldn’t start soon enough, but their set was a strange one: broken instruments and a missing drummer resulted in a largely acoustic performance. Far from ruining their hour in the limelight, their set felt intimate, a welcome departure from the unrelenting indie rock enjoyed up to this point, and such a performance really added to the mounting sense of occasion that was permeating the increasingly-plastered audience. Another splendid new band that is going places, Maldini’s increasingly-tight live shows are a glowing testament to their talents.
Stepping up to their role as sub-headliners of this epic lineup, Stagecoach roared into action, and as ever were tremendous: as with every Stagecoach show, a feel-good blend of mandolins, high-fives, shout-alongs and lyrics about Buffy combine to decorate the venue with smiles and obscene levels of fun. With most of the crowd having seen Stagecoach support Johnny Foreigner on their You Thought You Saw… tour of 2010, this was an audience hungry for more, and their enthusiasm for the nearest thing a band without a full LP can get to a Greatest Hits set resulted in a spectacular performance, and an outrageously high benchmark for the stars of the show to swing for.
Skulking onstage to a robotic recording of the worst review ever written in an act as disrespectful as the review itself, Alexei, Kelly and Junior looked more than a little apprehensive. Their hometown isn’t normally too kind to them – rarely do their shows sell out, and when they do, they aren’t met with the same cult following that they find around the world. Today, however, was a different matter: gathered from Northern Ireland, Scotland, Brighton and London (and they were just the ones I talked to) were some of the band’s biggest fans, here to bask in the glory of their spectacular third album. Slipping a couple of new songs into a typically well-balanced set of classics (Yes! You Talk Too Fast), live favourites (Every Cloakroom Ever), and even a cover of the Dismemberment Plan’s You Are Invited, the band tore through an hour and a half of everything you’d expect from a Johnny Foreigner show – buckets of sweat, Kelly fucking up her tuning and a room full of people screaming every single word. Ending on live rarity Absolute Balance, this felt like a moment of absolute triumph: a gathering of the band’s biggest fans in their hometown to toast an album that is comfortably their best (so far). Johnny Foreigner are a criminally underrated band who produce music of unerring brilliance on a shoestring with the help of their truly special label Alcopop!, and it has to be hoped that this is the beginning of the path to bigger things they so thoroughly deserve.
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