Rawkstar.net

Eastern Lane/Morning Runner

The Delph Bar, Lincoln on 23rd September 2004
Reviewed by Andreas on 29th September 2004

The Delph Bar happens to be my student union bar. In essence, this means that I go there on a weekly basis to get drunk and/or watch bands play. Usually this is great fun, although the bands have a tendency to be horrrrrendous. For some reason, Lincoln University keep booking bands that can't play, haven't got songs or are just plain dull.

Morning Runner

That is why I didn't have high hopes as "Morning Runner" set their gear up on stage. To be honest, I didn't pay too much attention for the first song, but somewhere in song #2, I realised that they're actually quite good!

Morning Runner are apparently from Manchester, they haven't really got a website, but are signed to the excellent Faith and Hope records. Through Faith and Hope they released their debut single, 'The great escape/oceans' earlier this year. Up until this night, they'd been on an 8-date tour of the nation, taking them from Glasgow to Lincoln, supporting the likes of The Music and indeed Eastern Lane.

They deal in a kind of inventive indie rock that actually doesn't get dull after two songs. Reminding me slightly of The Doves at points, I thoroughly enjoyed their set.

Or, rather, I was enjoying the set until...

... fuses blew and the sound disappeared in the middle of Morning Runner's set. And seeing as Morning Runner weren't the headliners this evening, they simply had to pack up.

Rating: 7/10
Website: www.morningrunner.com

Eastern Lane

Eastern Lane have been on rawkstar.net several times in the past, but I'd never actually heard any of their music. I figured I'd go along anyway though, as I didn't think Bob would write about them if they were cack.

He was right too, Eastern Lane are not cack. Swinging around the stage more than Morning Runner, and looking more like typical indie rockers, they certainly got the audience dancing. Personally I stood at the bar, tapping my foot, but that's probably just journalistic pretension taking control. It sounded raw, it sounded good, it sounded like something I'd dance to whilst brushing my teeth every morning.

However, I found myself drifting whilst listening to Eastern Lane. After five songs, it seemed they had pretty much used up every idea they'd managed to squeeze out of their heads. I felt disappointed. Like the feeling you get when someone's just bought the last ice cream right in front of your nose. Saying that I was on the verge of tears would be taking it a bit too far, but I was certainly disappointed.

Until the encore. The encore that saved them. I don't know what the song was called, but it shook and blasted, and was amazing. I loved it. Shame about the 25 minutes of utter boredom though. If they cut those songs out, they'd be amazing.

Rating: 6/10
Website: www.easternlane.com

If it wasn't for the cheap drinks a student bar put on, I'd probably remember the song titles. But hey, what can you do?

I was surprised by Morning Runner, and I hope to hear more from them soon. They deserved the headlining spot, rather than Eastern Lane. The Lane need to check their set a bit, but they too show lots of promise. I might even invest in their next single.

mikey says:-

eastern lane ARE cack...they've been going around saying they're playing at a venue here in a few days time, when in reality, my friend has had the venue booked for that night for months in advance.

twats.

1st April 2006 @ 15:07:08 GMT