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Likely to
steal the show
REVIEW - THE BOY LEAST LIKELY TO
Carling Bar Academy By RICHARD OSLEY
A DILEMMA from a schoolboy mind. If I turn out to be a star
footballer and Spurs want to sign me – should I do it?
As an Arsenal die-hard it would mean tearing up all that north
London rivalry and going back on everything my pop ever told
me.
But, hey, I would get to play in the Premiership, earn lots
of money and have a wife with superb, erm, bone structure. Tricky.
Forgive the homespun analogy, but that’s kind of how it
is for The Boy Least Likely To.
One of the best bands on the fringe, they have been asked to
support the inexplicably popular but actually quite lame crooner
James Blunt (the Spurs of pop music) on his tour of the United
States and Canada this month. Dilemma.
Do they hang out with Blunty? Not my kind of fun. Or do they
blank him out and milk the big arenas for the first time. Tricky.
They have chosen the latter. To think, it’s only 12 months
since Grooves named TBLLT as Demo Of The Week winners.
It all means their show at the Carling Bar Academy in Islington
on Thursday night, part of Time Out’s decent On The Up
series, was partly a send-off gig. Their roly-poly mix of cutesy
xylophone and harmonica glides across the kind of softcore guitar
that is just right for those who still like going to gigs but
have long given up moshing with the kids.
They have the same delicacy you find with other 30-something
favourites such as Belle and Sebastian, Aberfeldy or even The
Magic Numbers.
Fluffy tunes like Be Gentle Me have been destined for a wider
audience for some time, and whether the quirky guitar jangler
I’m Glad I Hitched My Apple Wagon To Your Star will be
hit is a question of “when” rather than “if”.
The Americans would do well to get to their Blunt gigs early
this month and watch the support act steal the show.
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