Rock City has a place in a lot of gig goers hearts, it's a special venue. It's hosted some of the biggest bands on the planet and has a natural sort of atmosphere that crowds and bands alike feed off - even if the legendary sticky floors have long gone.
Feeder are one of those bands that love Rock City and everything that surrounds it, and it makes us feel blessed to have this venue in Nottingham when you're overhearing guys from Dublin saying, "I'm buzzing to be here tonight, all the people who live here have this on their doorstep, man!" It's the kind of place that bands will never forget even as they make that next step to arenas.
For the Nottingham date of Feeder's Tallulah tour, you just know before it even starts that it's going to be a banging show. They don't mess around, and everyone is already singing out their favourite Feeder tunes before they come in straight with a new one in the shape of 'Youth', ahead of some of the bigger numbers like 'Lost & Found' and 'Feeling the Moment'.
Feeder are in one of those unique positions where they have such a brilliant back catalogue that no-one would want to be in their shoes when it comes to putting a set-list together. Naturally that means they have left out a few big tunes on this tour, but it certainly shows the faith that the band have in their new album when it comes to the live circuit - and who can blame them when it crashed into the charts at the top five?
Three of the seven songs played from the album, 'Fear of Flying', 'Kite' and 'Tallulah', show the band's true longevity and their ability to continue reinventing themselves. These guys are truly remarkable and the bond that Taka Hirose and Grant Nicholas have is clearly shown on stage. Plus, the new live members breathed new life into the already established tracks.
Hearing 'Yesterday Went Too Soon' and knowing it hasn't been on any show on this tour yet gives everyone such a buzz, and when it came to 'High' it might as well have been a chance for Grant to rest his voice and let the whole Rock City crowd do the work. Naturally, they "finish" on 'Buck Rogers', do the obligatory "Good Night Rock City", only to re-enter a minute later for an encore that included another new number in the perfect set position, 'Blue Skies Blue', and the satisfyingly predictable 'Just A Day'. The reality of this show definitely lived up to the expectation and more.
