The House Of Love - Live At Koko Club

The House of Love were probably the first band I went to see numerous times. It's like supporting a football team in a way, following a band around. You have to put the work in. You have to travel to distant lands (well Kent in my case). It was a fine time because the House of Love were superb band. Then they signed to a major label made a dodgy album and imploded.

Some 16 years after last seeing them I was happy to see that, as part of the Don't Look Back series of concerts where bands play one of their classic albums in their entirety. The House of Love played their seminal self-titled first album.

After a dreadful and completely inappropriate support from a pop-ska band who should remain in a pub doing parties for pissed up stag nights, we were eagerly looking forward to HoL. Once the opening bars of 'Christine' rand out it was like being transported back to 1988, when I was younger and getting back to seeing live bands again. The songs sounded as good as ever, although the intervening years have dented the Guy Chadwick's intensity a bit. Followed by 'Hope', 'Road' and the wonderful 'Sulphur' the mosh pit was soon bouncing along (although I only witnessed this from a safe distance). After the album was done the band popped off stage for a bit and returned to give us the classic singles 'Destroy The Heart' and the fantastic 'Shine On'.

It was a good night which brought back some great memories but it wasn't just a nostalgia trip. It proved that the bands that I new and loved way back when were far more inventive musically than a great deal of the current scene. And now that I sound like my Dad I'm going for a lie down.