It’s been four years and two albums since England’s visited Denver and the . The band performed there again Saturday night in support of their latest release, “The Chaos.” And if their thrilling, high-energy set was any indication, they aren’t in any danger of losing any of the youthful spark and edgy creativity that’s made their music so exhilarating since their debut record dropped in 2004.
Following openers the and , the four-piece (Barry Hyde and Ross Millard on guitars and vocals, David “Jaff” Craig on bass and Dave Hyde on the drums) came on stage and were greeted enthusiastically by what was unfortunately only a modest-sized crowd. But the obvious — and unjust — lack of a packed house didn’t affect the mood or the performance of the young group throughout the evening.
With a dash of English charm, the band’s two front men (Hyde and Millard) joked with the crowd and asked everyone to move to the front of the theater before they tore into “The Chaos.” “Struck Dumb,” also from their recent release, and the anthemic punch of “Decent Days and Nights” from their first record quickly followed. It instantly felt as if waves of electricity were sent forth as the adrenaline burst of their performance spilled over the stage and into the crowd, now compelled to move to the herky jerky rhythms and angular, distorted guitar work.
What followed, for just over an hour, was a dizzyingly wonderful torrent of songs: from the pop craft of “The Heartbeat Song,” “The Beginning of the Twist” and “Skip To The End,” the jolting joy of “Carnival Kids,” “Meantime,” and “I Can Do That,” to the sinister “Sun Goes Down.”
Hyde, center stage in coattails and boutonniere, with a gleam in his eye and a boyish smirk, looked every bit the maniacal maestro as he directed the band’s signature four-part harmonies. The Bluebird provided perfect sound for this admirable feat as each unique vocal line danced cleanly over even the most frantically punk of their frenetic post-punk and new wave-styled workouts. To Hyde’s right, Millard, looking like a collegiate Clark Kent, both matched and countered his guitar and vocals as he jumped around stage. The sturdy, steady rhythm section anchoring their whirling pace betrayed their stoic appearance with the occasional big grin.
“Quite a different vibe than last night in Salt Lake City,” joked Hyde as he accepted several shots of whiskey from an audience member. The audience was then asked to join in harmonizing with the band on their excellent cover of Kate Bush’s “Hounds of Love” before they ended their set with an acapella intro to the hyperkinetic prog-punk workout “Jupiter.”
An encore of — in Hyde’s words “their fastest song” — “The Connector” and crowd-favorite “Man Ray” closed the show. This ending finished off what felt to be an all-too-brief, yet positively affirming and inspired performance by a band that cares enough to not only to put in their all for the audience’s sake but for the music as well. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long before we get to see them in Denver again.
Michael Behrenhausen is a Denver-based writer, and regular Reverb contributor. The worst crime he ever did was play some rock ‘n’ roll.
Dave Gannon is a Denver photographer and a new contributor to Reverb.
