The Days @ O2 Academy 3 Birmingham, 19th April 2009

Perhaps I'm getting too old to go gigging...I guess as long as I'm enjoying it and I can manage to stand unaided for an hour at a time then I should make the most of it. But the crowd at The Days gig at the O2 Academy 3 in Birmingham made me feel particularly old (my friend texted me when I was still on my way there to let me know that it was a bit like a youth club - we're only bitter!!). Interestingly this is probably the biggest challenge that the band have – how can they extend their appeal outwards from the teenage girls who made up most of the audience to include the more *ahem* mature market that can help to welcome their thoroughly deserving pop music to the mainstream charts?

Anyway, this was the 4th time I'd seen The Days (support slots for The Feeling and SFG, and at the O2 Academy in Islington back in February this year) and they are a really fun band live. Their set is pretty extensive (12 songs, including a cover - see below) and they rarely put a foot wrong when performing live. For a young band they exude confidence in their playing and you can tell that they have done a lot of gigging and touring over the last few years. The audience was pretty well acquainted with their songs and I was particularly impressed with one guy I was standing next to who seemed to know all the words to every song. And he wasn’t even standing at the front!! The four piece definitely know how to write a pop song and pretty much all of their songs hit the mark. My favourites from the set were the storming No Ties, which is a great opening, and Jane, which is a real grower as I wasn’t that fond of it to begin with but it’s constantly running round my head even now. Love in This Club, a cover of the track by Usher, is a popular turn live, with the drummer Harry making it to the front of the stage to address the audience and pick up a pair of sunnies to wear for the duration of the song. I must say that I prefer the brilliant version they have on YouTube – check it out if you haven’t seen it yet…




Full Set List
No Ties
Confessions
Give It Away
The Days
Who Said Anything
Kate
Believe
Hey You
Carry Me
Jane
Love in This Club
Never Give Up


The boys themselves are obviously very hard working and the last 3 times I’ve seen them they have come out afterwards and spent as long as the fans wanted chatting, signing things and having their photos taken. This time round they were even taking people’s details for the mailing list and selling the odd t-shirt! Individually they are all really lovely and they even think The Feeling are really good live so they are alright in my book!

So they are putting in all the work, their songs are catchy, their live performance is assured and their fan base is both enthusiastic and loyal – all they are missing is the radio play to kick start them up the charts. Radio 1 seems to have little interest in what I would call ‘proper’ pop bands (other than SFG strangely), with bands like McFly and The Feeling seemingly out of favour. Fingers crossed that their next single Never Give Up, which is out on May 4th, brings them the success they deserve (you can pre-order the single here).