You could easily be mistaken for thinking Kids In Glass Houses are in fact American, what with them singing about Californ-i-a with a definite borrowed American twinge – until they talk that is, they’re straight out of the valleys. Following in the footsteps of fellow Welsh rockers Funeral For A Friend and Lostprophets, Kids In Glass Houses showed a different edge from the one on recent release ‘Smart Casual’ after taking to the stage after the frenetic crowd warmers Valencia and the seemingly one-“hit”-wonders Go-Audio.
Set and album opener, ‘Fisticuffs’, sounds straight out of the Finch rulebook of emo and the sweat drenched Waterfront is soon moving again. Singer Aled Phillips powerful voice has much more guts to it live and the guitars much crunchier, the pop-like production of Smart Casual seemingly takes away much of their brunt. The über catchy singles ‘Give Me What I Want’ and ‘Easy Tiger’ show their emo power pop class, but they certainly are no two single fade-aways, the Paramore-esque ‘Shameless’ with its broken stop start chorus is another stand out. The crowd, albeit young, barely stop all night, with a fight even breaking out, Phillips intervening telling him ‘don’t be a dickhead’. K.I.G.H definitely work the crowd, their onstage energy is mirrored and doubled with crowd surfers a plenty, even the security were unwilling to venture into the pit to retrieve them. Always a good sign for a young band I’m sure and the future looks bright.
