Corn Exchange, 16th November 2009
When Gomez get it right they don’t half get it right, Ben Ottewells voice (the throaty singer) mixed with the electronic wizardry of Ian Bill (the second guitarist and bloke who makes the cool noises) underpinned by a great guitar sound and a swagger that you can afford after 11 years of writing and recording music, makes for an exciting live performance. At some points Gomez can make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, this however, is not the whole story.
Gomez rely on Ben Ottewell for a lot, it defines their sound, people associate the name Gomez with ‘that’ voice, and what a voice it is. Its power and course tone cut above the sound of the band and give Gomez a uniqueness that their support band would give their pinkie fingers for. But like all good things, you can have too much. With Ben as the main singer Gomez seemed to lose their edge, the pace slows down and you feel as if a band has come to play live over the end credits of your girlfriends favourite ‘rom com’, it lacks direction. He has a great voice, it’s just not for me. I’m not saying that Ben doesn’t have a place in the band or that he doesn’t add a certain star quality to them, but the band are definitely more pleasurable to watch and listen to when Ian Bill (the funky noises man) takes centre stage.
I feel that if Gomez are to start moving forward and stop looking back, then it may be that Ian should take over the lion share of the song writing duties. He looks cool, sounds a bit edgy and is clearly very good at adding electronic sound to Gomez’s indie guitar pop, they have more energy as a band, and all seem to look more into it on stage.
The crowd seemed pleased to see Gomez back and to be fair they seemed pleased to be there, although asking the crowd to wake up halfway through one of your most lacklustre songs is probably not what everyone wanted to hear… that’s Gomez’s job to do that right? But overall they seemed to enjoy the night and the audience of the odd hipster, your dad and his mates and a spattering of raucous girls seemed to all have a good time. Gomez played the classic hits that their fans wanted as well as the best from their upcoming album.
Their live sound is notably better than their album sound, and they do carry more energy when playing live than they manage to portray on the album, which is a problem with bands of that ilk, Athlete being a prime example. You put them on to chill out at home, but you want more than that from a live band and Gomez are more than happy to oblige.
Words by Adam Harris
Photography by Ian Greenland
myspace.com/gomez
What did you think of the gig?
Ciaran: 8/10 “It was my first proper gig and I really enjoyed it, I thought they were fantastic”
Rachael: 8/10 “I enjoyed it, they were really good. I have been a fan for a long time and it was great to see them in my home town”
Noah: 2/10 “It’s just the same old indie rubbish they have been doing for years, I only came because my girlfriend had a spare ticket as her mate had dropped out”
