The Subways, Wrexham Central Station – 23/09/2011

AS a 17-year-old who had just passed his driving test, the world was my oyster, I could go anywhere, and what was my first trip – Welshpool to Wrexham.

Not exactly a trip of dreams I know but nonetheless I piled a group of friends in the back of my clapped out Ford Fiesta and headed off to the Central Station in the middle of Wrexham to see one of the hottest new bands on the circuit, the Subways.

That was back in 2005, and last week I took a girl out and headed for the same venue, to see the same band.

Central Station is one of the best venue’s in the country, it’s intimate, the acoustic’s are amazing and it has that aura of a grimy nightclub to it, with the smell of stale beer stinging the nostrils and your feet sticking to the floor – which stops me bursting out the dad dance (always a good thing when on a date).
As we took up our position on the balcony – again I didn’t feel it right to mosh during a date – we had a perfect view.

The lights lowered and the Subways entered the stage to a rapturous applause with frontman Billy Lunn sporting a rather dodgy read hairdo.
The minute the first few chords blasted out to “Oh Yeah!” I was taken back six years and felt like a teenager again.

Playing songs from across their three albums including Young for Eternity and All or Nothing, the festival favourites played with passion, energy and just plain rocked out – doing what they love doing best.

I was concerned that the band would have matured and have succumbed to what I now call ‘Blink 182 syndrome’ – losing their young charm and vigour, becoming serious because life is serious – but not when you’re in a rock ’n’ roll band!

Frontman Billy Lunn hit all the notes despite the problems he has had with his voice over the years, and the gorgeous Charlotte played the rock chick perfectly bouncing around the stage, again taking me back to a 17-year-old me when she would have been my ideal woman.

Debuting a few tracks from their recent release Money and Celebrity such as ‘We Don’t Need Money to Have a Good Time’, ‘Friday’ and the final song of the night ‘It’s a Party!’ had the crowd jumping around, dancing and singing along, proving that the Hertfordshire three piece had not lost their touch and are still one of the best live acts around in the UK.

Tickets: Pomona

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