The Alarm – Islington Academy

Many years ago, Herself and I were fans of the Alarm, but they faded out for a while, disbanded, reformed with different members, all sorts of gubbins. In fact, the only member of the Alarm who’s still there is the lead singer, Mike Peters.

Anyway, they released a new album earlier this year (which, frankly, we weren’t overly impressed with) but we still go tickets to go see them live. Well, less than £20 each, what the hell, we could always leave.

Finding the Islington Academy is an interesting experience – OK, once you’ve located the N1 centre and the main carpark, you actually see the entrance for the venue, but it’s tiny, and not the easiest one to find at all – there’s no signage that we could see from the street. Thank the lord for A-Zs.

Inside, the venue actually looks like a revamped Student Union. In fact, I suspect that’s exactly what it is. But it’s OK – small, max of about 500 people, I’d guess – but two bars, and generally OK. The support act, Sweet City Fire come on pretty quickly (not surprising, considering that for some bizarre reason there’s a 10pm fixed finish on the gig) and are surprisingly good. Not perfect, but not far off it either. They played for about half an hour, and were far better than most support acts I’ve seen. Definitely one to watch out for.

And then the Alarm. Considering that Mike Peters is also undergoing chemotherapy for leukemia, and can’t be anything less than 45, he looks bloody good. Throughout the set, he was energetic, and commanded the stage totally. The people behind him are also bloody good, and you can see there’s a great dynamic in the band, that they’re there and enjoying themselves. And man, do they rock.

Thankfully the setlist was a real hotchpotch of new and old stuff, and coupled with an audience who obviously knew every single track inside out, it was a fantastic gig. The new album certainly sounds better when performed live, but I think we’ll have to reasses it at home too.

All in all, an utterly brilliant gig. Well worth the money…