Patent Pending // The Waterfront, 29.04.14

“The Whiskey, The Liar, The Thief”, is perhaps the most beloved highlight of the evening. The energy that Patent Pending brought to the stage of The Waterfront on the evening of April the 29th was accompanied by pirate hooks, One Direction-esque dance moves, a ‘Crawl of Death’ and Patent Pending’s own ‘Crowd Surfing World Record’. An evening to remember, so it seems.

The choice of bringing this one particular song to the stage is perhaps one of the best decisions the band has ever made. It serves itself perfectly as a point of view for this review, since the entire evening can be summarised by the three subjects in the song’s title. Patent Pending was clearly The Whiskey, coming up with their unbelievable amount of energy that I’ve only witnessed after a few shots of Johnny Walker’s. The support slots however, with People on Vacation as The Liar and Lacey as The Thief, could not live up to the expectations.

Let’s start with People on Vacation, shall we? Coming on to the stage with an acoustic guitar in one hand and a big banner saying, “We’re a punk rock band” in the other, might just undermine the credibility of your band. With ‘The Bitch Song’ – from Bowling for Soup (!) by the way - as the only song that could really make the crowd go wild, this band didn’t really succeed in heating up the crowd for the finale of the evening. Starting your live gig with a slow ballad, accompanied by overuse of sensual flickering eyebrows from the second guitarist – might perhaps make the hearts of young teenage girls melt, but couldn’t really keep me tuned in. Sorry, not sorry. Bands such as these are what I like to call “going-thru” bands. You listen to them for a while once you’ve entered the rock scene, but quickly find your way to a better, bigger band. I can’t really imagine this one being anyone’s all-time favourite. Taste, however, will always be a point of discussion when it comes to music. While they couldn’t please me, it was very impressive to see them being ‘a band’ on stage. The interaction between the band members, the PA, and the overall sound was terrific. At the same time, these guys have to stop lying about their genre. Punk rock and pop punk aren’t quite the same.

Before ‘The Liar’ entered the stage, the crowd could enjoy the anthemic tunes of Lacey. A great, unknown opener is a good way to start a gig, but the funny thing about this one was that we’d heard everything all before. Lacey definitely found their inspiration with Good Charlotte, Green Day and Blink 182, but didn’t succeed in adding something new to it. Yes alright, their sound was okay, definitely, and for a band starting-out, these guys really owned the place. But at the same time, their music sounded a bit more like plagiarism instead of something new. They’re thieves, but good ones, seeing as they succeed in selling their stolen goods.

Everyone kept telling me about Patent Pending. “Don’t go yet, it’s definitely worth the wait”. Perhaps this is the perfect time and place to thank these people. They were absolutely right. It was. Entering the stage with a big jump like the guys from Busted used to do, Patent Pending’s lead singer succeeded in setting the tone for their gig just right from the very first minute. Energetic, semi-aggressive, and self-certain. Hilarious songs kept the good spirits up, only to be enforced by great improvisations in between the songs. Original monologues about how Norwich is apparently pronounced as ‘Nch’ in the local slang, and honest daydreaming about his wife – “from the very first moment I met her, I knew this was the one I was going to impregnate” – almost turned the gig into a cabaret evening. Nevertheless the band succeeded in finding a great balance between these two things, and made me place their gig in my personal top five. They were terrific, nothing to add to that. Drunk on whiskey, maybe, but terrific nonetheless.

Let’s be honest; there’ll always be liars and thieves in the music business. That doesn’t mean they are bad bands however. Some people just like them. Well, I didn’t, and I am in the advantageous position of being a reviewer and therefore able to share my opinion about the matter. Don’t shoot me; I’m just doing my job. When it comes to the things I do like in the gig world, as long as I had a good time and got drunk, there’s not much more to say.

Oh yes, my preferred drink’s still whiskey.