GIG: ATHLETE at Reading Hexagon

Stayed over in Royal Berkshire to watch Joel, Carey, Tim and Stephen aka South London's finest, ATHLETE.

Criminally under-rated, in my opinion, their 2007 album Beyond The Neighbourhood should have elevated them to a higher level but seems to have slipped under the radar and, live, they are a joy to watch too. Tunes that make you feel happy inside and superb musicianship.

The venue was a strange one. Hexagon Theatre (yep it is Hexagon shaped) was used until very recently as the venue for Reading's Xmas Panto. It's a bit of a concrete monstrosity from outside but, inside, it was likeable enough. Downstairs was standing, upstairs balcony was seating but very close to the stage so you felt involved ... and you could take your beers with you.

Athlete's set was brilliant for the purist - a roughly equal mix of songs from all three albums and all the key songs were there with the surprising, to me, omission of the excellent El Salvador.

However everything else was excellent - Wires, You Got The Style, Hurricane, Westside, 24 Hours, Tourist, Second Hand Stores all rocked along and, at times, were a singathon as Joel didn't miss to many trick to involve the audience. The slower tunes were highly listenable too. Athlete put on an outstanding live sound, you could hear and nderstand every word and the guitar/keyboard/drum work all excelled.



If I was allowed one minor grumble, several songs seemed to be performed a little slower than recorded and that, to a degree, meant the atmosphere wasn't always on high.



Still, Athlete are formidable and I'm sorely tempted to catch them again soon ... may even pop along to Cardiff this Sunday night. That's how keen I am.

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