Tue 22 Jan – Nada Surf

After discovering Nada Surf in October, they have rapidly become one of my favourite bands. Damn that I didn't discover them earlier. I was worried that they might not live up to my expectations, seeing them live. I was very very wrong. They exceeded my expectations by miles.
Their support was Peter Greenwood, he was good... if I heard recordings of his stuff, I might even stretch to very good, but there was something missing in his performance, and as I was standing near the back, quite a bit of his set was drowned out by people talking.

Nada Surf appeared. Opening with 'Concrete Bed' - a great opener if there ever was one, both on 'The Weight Is a Gift' and live. The audience quietened down a bit, but I was unfortunate enough to be standing in front of two girls who wouldn't shut up (luckily they left before the encore). They played 4 songs from their new album 'Lucky' due out in February - 'Whose Authority', 'Here Goes Something', 'I Like What You Say' and 'See These Bones'. The rest of the set was made up from songs from 'Let Go' and 'The Weight Is a Gift' - was slightly disappointed to hear nothing from their first two albums (despite someone at the front constantly shouting "play Hyperspace!").

The best songs for me were, 'Blizzard Of '77', which was brilliant, as everyone joined in to sing the chorus "in the middle of the night, I worry, it's blurry even without light". Also 'Happy Kid' and 'Fruit Fly', which I was really glad they played, as it's probably my favourite song of theirs.

A brilliant encore followed - 'Blonde On Blonde', 'Always Love' and 'Blankest Year' which we had to practise shouting "Fuck it!" for, before they played. It was great. After much applause and some chanting of "Nada Surf" they reappeared for one last song, 'hi-speed soul'.

A truly amazing gig. The best part is, I get to see them all over again in less than a month.