I'm not the biggest of fans for the
Academy as a venue, and this wasn't helped by the support acts and the set changes taking rather a long time - followed by a wait again for the main event to appear.
That being said, I am yet to be let down by a band I love who have appeared there.
Lost Prophets being no exception.
An impressive lighting rig that would have perhaps worked in a bigger venue was working against them, but the set-list was good, a nice mix of their works and highly enjoyable.
Some outstanding renditions of
Rooftops,
Last Train Home,
Burn Burn and
It's Not the End of the World... highlighted a great performance that they clearly seemed to be enjoying for themselves as well as us.
Sidebar, Ian fairly went off on one during the gig, rambling away at individuals. Had myself and Karen in fits of laughter. Oh, he also became obsessed over one member in the crowd who he dubbed Neo. Making numerous Matrix references. Nice to have a non-scripted touch to a performance to personalise it.
All in all, a very impressive first encounter with them live for me, and Karen seemed to enjoy it too, and she has seen them before. Well played good sirs.