September 16th 2016, The Enemy played their last London gig “for the foreseeable future” according to the band. It was a bitter pill to swallow as thousands traipsed out of the venue that night. Powerless and downtrodden, the northern line exploded into bouts of ‘This Song’. We did not go quietly into the night. It was a fuck you to XFM and 6Music who ignored ‘It’s Automatic’, a criminally underrated album. They were supposed to have ours and their backs!
That angst had not subsided upon return six years later. Back in the same venue, Coventry’s favourite sons were celebrating the 15th anniversary of their debut album ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’.
So many bands pussy foot around with music between the support acts. Not The Enemy. No one understands the plight of the working classes as they did/do. Train tickets, booking fees, and 7 quid for a pint, the band get they we’re being mugged off. They play monster hits from Kasabian, Oasis, and eventually return to the stage to The Who’s teenage desolation classic ‘Baba O Riley’. Bang. For. Buck!
Many anniversary album tours are a party; a nostalgia trip to relive great memories. The combative power of album opener ‘Aggro’ brought back feelings of yesteryear, but for different reasons. Back in 2007, the band played 5 sold-out nights at The Astoria (RIP). They were electric nights, the feeling of conquering the world was palpable. The destructive playing of the band in 2022 brought those feelings flooding back. Bodies lay strewn across the padded seats, beers flew as beacons of hope, and sweat fell with joy. This wasn’t a dewy-eyed trip to a misspent youth, this is real, this was for the here and now. The feeling of surmounting the bores was tangible but, it was fresh, the Tories, corporate greed, polluting water companies, no one feels safe!
Grown men cried in the arms of their best mates and partners as top 10 hits ‘Had Enough’ and ‘Away From Here’ assaulted the senses. What, because we’re 15 years older, you think we’ve all grown up and enjoy middle management? Fuck off!
‘This Song’ was reprised by the band for the final song but, was by the crowd whenever a moment’s breath was allowed to be taken. This sold-out crowd was not letting their heroes out without them knowing how much they had been missed. As it was an album playback gig, it was peculiar to hear the classic ‘You’re Not Alone’ at the mid-point. It takes added potency in 2022 as the world falls down around ordinary people.
During the encore the volatility of ‘Gimme The Sign’ was a thing of pure beauty. The snap of the neck as Tom Clarke snarls ‘penguin’ and the colossal drumming of frayed edges of humanity. Meanwhile, ‘Saturday’ set the encore ablaze as Clarke demands we all fulfill our dreams.
What the future holds remains unclear for the band at present. As most of us lie awake thinking about bills to pay, the world needs The Enemy. There’s just too many dreams in this wasteland to leave album five behind.
*Image courtesy of Fear PR