5th March 2008, at Concorde2

It’d be interesting to know what founding LEVELLERS members Mark Chadwick and Jeremy Cunningham would have said twenty years ago if they were asked how long they’d last in an industry so fickle. XYZ reporter Mo Mostowfi was on hand at their recent homecoming gig at Concorde2 to see if they still had it.

Through the debris of passing genres (in the rock idiom) of grunge and Britpop, THE LEVELLERS are still pulling crowds big enough to fill Concorde2, which is testament to their longevity. The band took to the stage and hit the crowd with ‘England My Home’, a song from their debut album ‘A Weapon Called Word’, fitting as tonight was their homecoming gig. The band then played a set with relentlessly tight precision. Fills between songs were kept short and sweet, if somewhat inaudible. It was hard to tell if Chadwick even announced that they were about to play one of their recently-released double A-side singles before they ripped through ‘A Life Less Ordinary’, which in all honesty, didn’t sound too dissimilar to any of their other songs. This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing as the audience seemed to lap it up and the band looked like they were having a great time, setting the tone for the evening.

They played their songs and played them well, with energy and enthusiasm that can only be admired after twenty years. Interestingly, the majority of songs on the set list came from their second studio album ‘Levelling The Land’ and the audience finally seemed to be playing their part when ‘One Way’ was performed. The band capped off the night with ‘What You Know’ and were joined on the stage by members of support act 3 DAFT MONKEYS to make an interesting spectacle including a double violin section. The audience seemed content, if somewhat apathetic.

One might argue that THE LEVELLERS aren’t relevant in 2008. But what I witnessed tonight is a band that loves what they do and that’s why they can put on a good show and look convincing doing it. What more could a fan ask for? 

Words by Mo Mostowfi
PIcs by Mike Eccleshall