The Hours at the Leadmill, Sheffield, 13th March

It still remains breathtaking how one single band can change musical listening in an instant, for better or worse. Coldplay’s A Rush of Blood to the Head, for example exploded into the world in 2002 yet today, five years later we still have to suffer this aftermath.

Of course tonight the problem is not Sheffield’s support Slow Club. Their boy, girl vocals over strict acoustic guitars is a rare breath of fresh air. As the duo sing twee melodies with only a bass drum, glass bottles and tambourines for accompaniment the audience can’t help but blush.

No, instead it is the headlining act, The Hours that reverse the roles of tonight’s gig. Even after the band come onstage the shear size of their backdrop and their insistence on painting their logo in every available space suggests the band are expecting a little too much from the small Leadmill crowd (the place is hardly full.) They even have towels for gods sakes. So it comes as no surprise that as The Hours saunter onstage they immediately bring a certain attitude with them. As they begin with their mundane vocals it’s hard to comprehend how a five piece could create such a bore.

Fifteen minutes later the situation hasn’t improved. The audience are still stiff, under whelmed by their entertainment as The Hours pianist attempts to rock out over the most commonly used chords in the scale. And yet this appears to be the only selling point for The Hours. Notice the songs are not even mentioned in this review, in part because The Hours simple don’t have any. Where Coldplay had a selling point (believe it or not that’s why they’ve sold millions) The Hours fall short. Rather than creating basic melodies, simple piano accompaniment and one easy hook a la Keane, The Hours instead sound like a block of sound which just repeats and does not progress. The only thing even defining between songs is lead singer’s Antony Genn highly boring anecdotes about Sheffield.

All in all both recipients have fallen short tonight. The Hours with their large ambition, stage decorations and big egos were clearly expecting more than 20 people in a backroom but it also appears we, the small audience don’t deserve The Hours. They appear to regard themselves higher than most of their viewers, yet by their monotonous performance tonight they’d better get ready to bring themselves down to our level before someone else does.