The Rakes, The Social.
Bedford Esquires Lev 2. 3rd February 2007.
It's quite fitting that in the week that previous Esquires visitors The View slammed straight in at number one in the album charts, tonight's sell out gig saw a return to the venue of THE RAKES. It was on Friday September the 24th 2004 that the then relatively unknown 4 piece played here to around 75 people. Since then their stock has risen dramatically and the clamour for tickets over the past few weeks has been immense. Review by Martin Stapleton. www.bedfordesquires.co.uk
It was at approximately 9:45pm when Alan, Matt, James and Casse take their bow to a wild and cheering audience. Tonight is a warm up gig to precede their long tour next month to promote the release of the second album 'Ten New Messages'. Opening song 'The World Was a Mess But His Hair Was Perfect' was a sign of things to come, as they produced a set which mixed the old with the new. A more familiar tune followed in 'Retreat' which the crowd sing along with in unison, prompting frontman Alan to enquire "Thanks for coming. How's it going?". However, for the main part of the evening small talk in kept to a minimum and Mr Donohue let's his singing, dancing and his wild wide-eyed hypnotic Ian Curtis-like state take the attention.
Upcoming single 'We Danced Together' produces a sea of cameras and mobile phones hoisted in the air as the crowd seek to capture a brief snapshot of the evening. Two new songs are then performed back to the back, both without the agit-punk rhetoric normally associated with The Rakes. They have a more mellow structure, with Alan politely asking at the end 'Did you like?" Most certainly!
The strains of 'Binary Love', complete with eighties electronica doodling is beautifully observed and is followed by the disco-beat of newie 'When Tom Cruise Cried'. Both prove quite an antidote to the normal Rakes lyrical concern (ie, the aftermath of a one too many Stellas and a Kebab takeaway!) which 'All to Human' seems to epitomise, especially when it is performed as manically as this. Old favourite 'Terror' is performed with equal fervour, whilst 'Suspicious Eyes' is the proverbial calm before the storm at the gig reaches a supercharged finale of 'Work Work Work (Pub Club Sleep)' and '22 Grand Job', the venue erupting into a mass of arms and a wave of noise.
The Rakes take a well earned breather before they re-appear and Alan announces that 'Little Superstition' is "...for the Ladies". Certainly a sumptuous treat for the fairer sex! The evening closes with the utterly superb single 'Strasbourg', the song that started The Rakes musical journey and reminded me of that Autumn evening here some two and a half years ago. A lot has happened since then! The Roar Club crew deserve a lot of credit for securing the return of a band who I am sure are going to get even bigger over these next few months. A set to remember!
The Rakes set list was as follows:
• The World Was a Mess But His Hair was Perfect.,
• Retreat,
• We Danced Together,
• We are all Animals,
• Down with Moonlight,
• Trouble,
• Binary Love,
• When Tom Cruise Cried,
• All Too Human,
• Terror,
• Suspicious Eyes,
• Work Work Work (Pub, Club, Sleep),
• 22 Grand Job
• Little Superstition
• Open Book,
• Strasbourg.
Support for The Rakes came from a band called THE SOCIAL. A rather offbeat and quirky Indie outfit who performed a very short set. All dressed rather dapper, their attire impressed me more than their music.