The Like LIVE

What an exciting night was in prospect. Oldham...valley of the kings. The first ever visit for a concert (and my first visit there since I was about six years old). Would we get there? Would we find the venue when we did? Would we make it out of there alive? Thankfully the answers were all yes...even if the latter two looked dicey at one point.

We got to Oldham easily enough, but couldn't find an open car park (or one that didn't look dodgy). However imagine our joy when a bit of a detour managed to find us smack opposite the venue and on-street parking was available. Not much else was available though. There was a Sainsbury's, two kebab shops, a Portugese cuisine take-a-way and one pub.

So off to the Buck and Union it was, where they were getting ready for Karaoke. We didn't sing but we were treated to some rather good renditions of "classic" songs, and some that weren't so good. We did fear for our safety at one point as two guys at the bar started arguing about prison, court cases and killing old ladies, but that soon calmed down and I proceeded towards my task of getting very drunk. There were two ladies in there who so obviously wanted my mate Gee, but as usual he was having none of it. Although in fairness, they could have been trying to set him up with some sting. You know, he goes out the back for a bit of the old slap and tickle and then BOOM, a bunch of burly blokes beat him up and take his money. Better to play it safe.

So then it was onto the venue (pausing only for Burger and chips). Small and compact...and no other bugger in there! Ok that's exaggerating slightly, but it was desperately quiet when we went in at 10. Which in some ways was good. Because it meant a good view of The Like. Which cannot be a bad thing. :D

And yes, I know it's all about the music (more on that in a short moment) but the fact that The Like are rather, a-hem, tasty does them no harm at all. And couple that with the fact that they can really kick ass live, and can write all their own stuff and all that, well...it's a winning combination.

I wish I could tell you all about the songs, but I haven't got the album yet (nor heard it properly - THANKS GEE) although I had heard some of their EP's and therefore did recognise a couple of the tracks they played. I was also drunk. But what I can say is that it was excellent. I really enjoyed it. And that's good enough for me.

Then afterwards, we were lucky enough to meet them all, albeit seperately. They were all very nice, and they all seemed in awe of Gee's marker pen. Perhaps they don't have marker pens in America or something. I was also thrown when we (almost) went on the tour bus and the drummer turned out to have a British accent, and said she "might know" where Wigan was. Gee tried to ruin everything by slagging off Maroon 5 (not a good idea when the lead singer dates one of them apparently) but I think we got away with it.

All in all this was a great night, and proof that The Like are more than a gimmick. They are here for the long haul. And a-men to that.

The Like...better than The Faders ;)