#MYLDN (1104) – THE THE

Me and my camera in my home town, my capital city, my london

I went to see The The last night at The Royal Albert Hall, a lifetime goal achieved and one which I thought would never happen as Matt Johnson has been dormant for over 20 years. There was a time when my whole world was The The (also the best name for a band ever). I listened to the ‘Infected’ album over and over again. Hard hitting political lyrics, the exploration of the darker recesses of the human mind and all delivered in killer fucking tunes…it spoke to me more than any other music at the time and it felt like his voice was my voice. One of the first things he said at the gig was that they described his output as music for “small bedrooms and spacious minds” and as I looked around the vast expanse of the RAH, full of thousands of people, I realised I wasn’t sure I had ever really listened to The The with anyone else before. It had always been a personal experience, an intimate relationship between myself and the music. A place where I could be guided through the conflict of my mind and my desires and sing my heart and soul out in the safety of my room. And now I was in a really big room with lots of other people who had had the same experience but never shared it. After the initial adjustment it turned out to be a blissful affair.

Matt Johnson is a lovely lovely man who has been both derailed and inspired by tragedy. It was the death of his brother Andy ‘Dog’ who did all the artwork for his early  albums who died young and suddenly which caused him to give up on music completely and then last year it was the death of his other brother which made him realise he had to return to music and on the day of the first comeback tour in Sweden, only a few days before the gig last night, his father died and there he was up on stage delivering an incredible show in the throws of grief. He told us this at the beginning of the gig and it was heartbreaking to know that after all this time he had to make his return riddled with grief. And yet, somehow he was able to translate this heaviness into a truly uplifting experience. I have no idea how he did it. He came across as a very sweet and sensitive soul but that is why I think his music connected so well, especially with every  bloke in there,  was that he had always been there to express the emotions we couldn’t. And as Brother Romero said, who was there with us, he was surprisingly amiable, easy going and jovial considering his music feels like the expression of a truly tortured soul.

He played tracks from throughout his career but had reworked a lot of the tracks into completely new arrangements to fit his new band. And rather than just regurgitate the hits he gave them all a fresh spin and they all sounded incredible and the band sounded so fucking good it was ridiculous. He was a bit disappointed that there wasn’t more singing along at first, but a lot of that had to do with the fact that the songs had been so altered it was difficult to know when to come in. The RAH is also quite intimidating in some ways, and its majesty is both a help and sometimes a hindrance to the atmosphere as audiences are often on their best behaviour as they feel the venue demands it. There were a lot of old geezers in the crowd and they were definitely trying to be in-keeping with  the environment although it was great to see people spontaneously leap up and start dancing. I wanted to rock out too but I was mesmerised and even though I knew every lyric of so many of the songs I was much more interested in hearing him sing than me. His voice sounded superb. Mine doesn’t. And so we all watched quite reverently  for the most part but by the end we were all chanting out the words, pointing into the air and cheering like a footie crowd. To hear “This is the day” belted out by the audience  was such an outstanding moment, a feeling of uplifting unity I will not forget, as the largely middle aged crowd sung like the young souls they had been and ultimately still were, just now on the inside rather than the outside.

The gig filled me with joy and I couldn’t quite get over I was actually seeing The The live. Kind of blown away. They finished the gig with a barnstorming version of Uncertain Smile and featured quite easily the greatest piano break I have ever heard live.  I’m not in the habit of DPDAs (digital public displays of affection) but Mrs Romero swung it somehow to get us on the list for this gig (which had sold out in 3 minutes) and just wanted to say you’re a total fucking beauty for sorting it out. Bucket list entry signed sealed and delivered! I left as giddy as the teenager I once was when they had first permeated my mind. I even bought a knockoff  band T shirt outside just as I would have done back then. They are at Brixton tonight and the Troxy tomorrow and I’m sure they will deliver two more incredible gigs. If you are thinking about it, it will easily be worth the tout ticket rates…

If you are not that aware of The The, please check em out on Spotify. Start with Soul Mining and Infected and then you won’t want to stop…