SaidMike Christmas Show @ Cardiff Barfly [LIVE]

16th December 2008

December 21, 2008, 09:51 PM

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After a massive breakthrough year that has seen the young Welsh band tour with Kids In Glasshouses and Tonight Is Goodbye as well as having been spotted by top notch label 'Xtra Mile Recordings' who are releasing their downloadable slab of festive fun 'It'll Be Fine At Christmas Time' tomorrow (22nd December), who can blame the boys from SaidMike for wanting to let their hair down with the now traditional, local homecoming Christmas show.

To say that anticipation was high would be a false bit of needless dramatic journalism on my behalf - everyone here had surely seen the headliners before and were merely just coming back for another hit of their trademark refreshingly-different pop punk. SaidMike seem to have a knack for doing this to people, I recall one week this year when I saw them perform three times and still went away from the third show with their massive choruses stuck in my head leaving me wanting more. There is something fantastically relaxed about these Christmas shows too, perhaps it is the rapport and genuine admiration between each of the bands or the sense of ownership that the crowd feel that they have with a band’s homecoming gig, but either way, all of the bands that played tonight took is as seriously, if not more so, than many other shows for want of living up to the sold-out audiences’ expectations.

First out to tame the to-the-rafters crowd in this tiny venue were the ever popular Tiger Please. Despite the fact that this band have been performing together for quite some time now, it is only this Autumn that they have really started to make an impact on the South Wales scene with high profile support slots, including Radio 1’s Christmas show which resulted in national airplay for the band - not a mean feat for a band that are barely allowed to drink at their own gigs! As ever though, the band only have to go through the motions to satisfy this dedicated anthem hungry Barfly crowd, but why stop there when they had the opportunity to leave the impression that they eventually did on Cardiff. Big congratulations to the band for how rapidly they have grown and developed in 2008 – we expect to hear more of you next year.

Able to strut out in front an already more than warmed up crowd were another highly tipped local band, Kick Box Riot. Like all of the bands on the bill tonight, it has been a crucial year for this KBR; they played the legendry Camden Crawl and had music used by Channel 4 – all off the back of one EP. Their success to date must surely make other bands just want to give up now. The sentiments of the band are highly visible when they perform - the buzz of a homecoming gig and the electric atmosphere within their crowd all have a massive positive effect upon their set and maintain the high standard previously set by Tiger Please. A highly admirable cover of The Pogues’ classic ‘A Fairytale In New York’ which whipped the audience into a frenzy did help a bit with the festivities though!

Next up were SaidMike. Nuff said, they no longer need an introduction. Well, not a written one – opener ‘White Christmas’ set the perfect snowy scene for the rest of their stomping set, although the lack of elf and Santa costumes from the promo pictures that accompany the latest release were greatly missed and could have potentially added an albeit sweaty, yet yuletide vibe. Keen to prove that the band have evolved, sing-along anthems ‘Heads Down Check It Out’, ‘The Alleyways’ and ‘Satellite A Means Of Light’ were all abandoned from tonight’s set like a puppy a week after December 25th – a very, very risky move for any band, although that said, most bands don’t have shiny new crowd pleasers like ‘Perfect Mistakes’, ‘Antics’ and the powerful ‘The Ballad Of Peter Devine’ to take their place. These tracks give fans a glimpse of what’s to come in 2009 from SaidMike and judging by this, it’s going to be a real belter of a year.

With the entire audience on their last legs as a result of the almost unbearable heat generated from the sheer energy of the crowd, there was never a better time for the band to unleash charity single and general all round TUNE ‘It’ll Be Fine At Christmas Time’. The moment that the track is introduced, a sudden burst of life and festive goodwill fell across the crowd like the first snow of winter and almost everybody, however reluctant, found themselves singing the infectious chorus long into the cold, December night.

SaidMike’s track ‘It’ll Be Fine At Christmas Time’ will be available for download from iTunes on Monday 22nd December. Proceeds go towards children’s’ charity Ty Hafan so make sure that you go buy it and keep it local this Christmas!

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