poppedmusic

Theme Park

The Ruby Lounge, Manchester, 15^th March 2013

By Rosie Pearson

It was a busy night at Manchester’s Ruby Lounge, with a mixture of younger and older music fans here to check out bright, new things, Theme Park.

First up was London-based trio LULS whose sound was very different to what the audience will have been expecting from the headline act.  In some ways, from their shared lead vocals to their heavier guitar sound, the band gave the impression of being wannabee members of BRMC, and while they ended with their two strongest tracks, this is a band that has a way to go to reach the heights of the aforementioned BRMC.

The headliners, Theme Park, sauntered on-stage with a brief ‘hello’ from frontman Miles Haughton, before launching straight into their opining track, Ghosts.  The groovy, yet understated, nature of both this and the next song, Jamaica, gave a good flavour of the band’s sound: they are quite subtle, yet at the same time fresh and fun.  This sound, which bands such as Friendly Fires are well-known for, was further epitomised by the new single, Tonight, which was a live highlight.  It was at this stage that the audience became a little more involved in the gig.

I must mention the crowd, large pockets of whom spent the entire night talking as if Theme Park were just background music on the jukebox.  I’m still undecided whether this is a reflection of the party-goers of Manchester, who were just enjoying a night out, rather than there specifically to see the band; or whether it reflects on the band, who did not sufficiently grab the attention of the Manchester crowd.  It also didn’t help that Miles’ vocals were unclear at times.  While the rather shy nature of the band may be quite endearing, maybe a little more interaction and energy from the band would have drawn the audience in.

Like a rollercoaster, the gig had a few peaks and troughs, before building up to ‘the big one’.  The last song, Two Hours, was by far the hit of the night and I got the impression that a lot of people knew this song but hadn’t invested in the album and were, quite frankly, a bit ambivalent about the rest of the gig.  This was a shame, as Theme Park have five or six stand-out songs and it was a decent performance for a first major headline tour.

Theme Park played:

Ghosts
Jamaica
A Place They’ll Never Know
Mountain
Milk
Blind
Still Life
Tonight
Saccades
Big Dream
Wax
Two Hours