British rockers A have been on the scene since 1997, when their patchy debut album 'How Ace Are Buildings' was released.  The fabulous follow up 'A vs Monkey Kong' preceded the Nu-metal movement by some two years, and was a somewhat more tasteful blend of Heavy Metal ingredients and Hip Hop grooves than the likes of Limp Bizkit, who were later to emerge on the scene.  The singles from 'Monkey Kong' were on the whole ignored by the playlist-setting powers-that-be at Radio One, and A remained a cult band wobbling precariously on the edge of their record contract.  Until now.

After building up a modest but solid fanbase in the States, A are back in 2002 with a slight rebranding, and the might of London Records' advertising executives behind them.  The danger with this (and some of the material on their infectious new album 'Hi-Fi Serious') is that it could all to easily stray into the chart-fodder end of the Nu-metal genre - which is rapidly becoming this decades' variation on the manufactured-ex-drama-school-boy-band territory.  As A were Nu-metal before Nu-metal was even in the melting pot ("Pre-Nu-metal" perhaps?), their longevity proves they deserve better than to be categorized next to throwaway chart acts.  The lyrical content of A's material is on the whole tongue-in-cheek, but the quality of their harmonies and arrangements warrants them serious attention - as the title of the new album suggests.

Before discussing A's performance, a word about the support bands:

1. Why all the fuss about Rival Schools?  A competent performance, sure, but they are no more than average.  With a stage presence that consists of jumping up and down on the spot when the songs get loud (just like The Frank & Walters used to, in fact) and a collection of tunes that could have been released anytime in the last twelve years, I really fail to see what all the fuss is about.  Maybe they're just "cool" because they hail from New York.  The Jury's still out on this one I'm affraid, New Musical Express.

2. Violent Delight.  The first support act to appear this evening.  Awful.  Truly awful.  The worst support band I have ever seen (and I've seen hundreds).  To abbreviate their name to VD is an insult to the bacteria and viruses which cause venereal diseases.  This "band" looks and sounds as if they've decided to form a Nu-metal act in between their secondary school lessons.  The lead singer, well, the lead singer shouldn't be, basically.  He sounds like the sort of geeky, awkward teenager who'd take over an end of term party, desperately trying to impress everyone with his shite jokes and pointless party tricks, in the vague hope he could make himself believe that someone, somewhere, actually invited him.  The musical content is unoriginal, the vocals tinny and annoying, and Violent Delight's lyrics sound like a lonely, hormone-fuelled adolescent's attempt to get a girlfriend for the first time.  One particular song (the one that ended their worthless set) had lyrics which were, frankly, homophobic.  It's not even possible to like this band in an "ironic" way - they're that bad.

I had correctly anticipated a full-on publicity campaign to accompany A's 'Hi-Fi Serious', as they were never previously a band capable of selling out the Pyramids Centre.  This unfortunately meant the disadvantage of older music fans being outnumbered something like 4-1 by pre-pubescent teenagers intent on jumping around like they'd just consumed their first ever food additives.  Nothing against the youth of today in particular, but can they not find a more everyday way of using up that pent-up energy, such as joyriding or shoplifting?  Perhaps it's a throwback to the days of new/old Manics fans, but this reviewer was left wondering how so many, so young, had so quickly hijacked a band someone my age enjoys.

A's year 2000 live mini-album 'Exit Stage Right' suggested good things from this five-piece.  The multi-layered songs were reproduced live with an equal depth as they are on record, and the intricate, Police-esque harmonies (which are all too often neglected by live acts) sounded tight and in tune.  Tonight, however, was to prove a bit of let down, especially for fans of completely "live" rock music, due to the absence of keyboard player and backing vocalist Giles Perry who was busy being a proud father for the first time.  This meant that for the show to go on, the band had to play in synchronization with a sampled backing track of Giles' parts - which sounded as if they were taken directly from the studio master tapes.  It's a shame that many music fans still continue with this debate about live music versus sequencers and samplers, as the acoustics of tonight's show were fine, with a well balanced blend of vocals, effects and guitars.  A constrained show is better than none at all, of course, yet the limitations of the click track led to a more "by-numbers" performance than had been expected (presumably because of the set-in-stone tempos limiting dynamics, and pre-recorded studio backing vocals sounding clearer than Jason Perry's lead vocals).  If watching, say, Underworld or The Chemical Brothers, you'd expect sounds emerging from invisible rack units backstage, but it is disconcerting to hear extra vocals blasting out from A's stage from an unseen digital source.

The songs themselves still stand up well, with 'Monkey Kong' rearing its frantic head early in the set, and 'Old Folks'  being as disrespectful and funny as ever.  The new album 'Hi-Fi Serious' is throwaway on first listen, but in fact becomes what aging music journalists will happily deem a "grower" (see the fine single 'Nothing' for example - probably the best song in tonight's gig).  The performance left me wishing I'd seen A live at the time 'A vs Monkey Kong' was released - and resigning myself to probably only hearing their recorded work in future - as I'd be willing to bet from now on the gigs will be forever taken over by the sort of fans whose parents are waiting outside to drive them back to their bedrooms.

Review: Andrew Morrison