Live Review: The View – Docks Academy, Grimsby
28/11/2023
Docks Academy has been a Godsend for bringing live music back to Grimsby. Since opening, they have put the Town back on band’s tour posters, and it’s a very exciting time for the Town. Scottish indie heroes The View were the latest to play the former Church now brewery, but could they do it on a cold Tuesday night in Grimsby?… The short answer is, fuck yeah!
The View, much like The Libertines, have had some controversies over time, but also like The Libertines, The View have the tunes to back themselves up too. Most recently was the bust up the band had on stage earlier this year in Manchester, not long reformed this looked like the end again already but since then, they have gone on to release one of their best albums to date, ‘Exorcism of Youth‘. More surprisingly, it’s also the most positive sounding album they have ever released! I guess this indicates that the bust up was just something that needed to happen to blow the cobwebs away and come back fresher.
When The Stone Roses tune ‘I Am The Resurrection‘ started to play, you knew it was time to head to the front, there is no way that song is getting played unless it’s for a band to walk out to.
With the venue now dark, the eerie choir like intro to ‘Glass Smash‘ was ringing around before the band entered and burst into the ferocious start. The track is a perfect mood setter, heavy to get the blood pumping and goes on a journey, it’s almost like three different songs in one, and I’m sure it’s also the perfect song to warm the band up too. Like I said about the controversies earlier, a thing frontman Kyle Falconer does is he will be honest and own them, a line in ‘Glass Smash‘ is, “I never claimed to be no angel though, I tell you in the songs I wrote”.
‘Grace‘ came next and is more of the type of song that you associate with The View, cheeky and jangley story telling. With debut single ‘Wasted Little DJ’s‘ following, you could just see by this point that the whole band were up for this gig, Kyle’s body shakes, standing on one leg and cheeky grins made it impossible to take your eyes off him… All that and Kyle has the most incredible legs. Guitarist Pete Reilly is also mesmerising, he just radiates an aurora of coolness.
With many bands, who have been around for a while it’s easy to pick up the casual fans, these are the ones who are into the singles and the earlier songs. Of course, you have to cater for them, but this was a tour to promote the latest album. What The View have done brilliantly on ‘Exorcism of Youth‘ is produce songs that don’t get lost in the set, so much so that when they played three in a row ‘Feels Like‘, Neon Lights‘ and the almost The Strokes like ‘The Wonder of it All‘ they felt like familiar songs and blended in perfectly.
Sometimes, bass player Kieren Webster takes over on vocals and the fast-paced, almost impossible to sing along but incredible to get lost in the mosh pit to ‘Skag Trendy‘ is his. This also saw Kyle leap onto the bass for the frenzy of a tune.
Surprisingly, new tune ‘Allergic to Mornings‘ gained the biggest crowd participation, Kyle encouraged this at the start by telling the ones in the audience who hadn’t heard the track what the chorus was, this would pay off brilliantly by letting Kyle take a step back at some of those parts to bask in the reception.
Another new tune and possibly the best off the new album is the infectious ‘Dixie‘. A song that could stand shoulder to shoulder with any of their tunes. This has all the hallmarks of a tune that should never leave the set list, Perfect pace to be able to not only sing but also to bounce along to. The “T-t-t-t-t terrified” part is absolutely impossible not to participate in.
Kyle took the full spotlight, front, and center… Well, back and center, sitting on the drum kit for a moving acoustic version of ‘Face For The Radio‘, a beautiful way to end the set before the encore.
The encore was a real crowd pleaser and included arguably three of their most well-known songs, so in turn, this gave the crowd one last shot at having a jump around. The set ended with ‘Same Jeans‘, ‘Superstar Tradesman and ‘Shock Horror‘. Just like ‘Glass Smash‘ was the perfect opener, ‘Shock Horror‘ is undoubtedly the right tune to end with. Fast-paced, screams of “Ahhhhhh” and finger numbing hand claps, how else would you want to end a gig!
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