Kids in Glass Houses - Manchester Academy 3 - 23.5.08

After numerous support slots and smaller headline shows under their belt, Kids in Glass Houses bring their sold out headline UK tour to Manchester’s Academy 3 with the promise of some new songs from the Welsh bands forthcoming album ‘Smart Casual’.

The Philadelphian quintet Valencia are on their first trip over to the UK and the band take to the stage rather nervously. They start quite bravely with a new track 'Holiday' which has been doing the rounds on their myspace player over the last month before reaching into tracks from their debut album This Could Be A Possibility. Songs like 'Will we ever know how?' and '3000 miles' are received well but the bands sound especially from the guitars is weak, and its vocalist Shane who saves their performance. His vocal line is strong and spot on and his interaction with the crowd is going down well.

By the time Valencia play their poppy and most polished song of the set 'the closest I am to living life on the edge' the crowd seem to have warmed more to their sound and when the fast pace of 'que sera sera' blasts out across the venues PA as the circle pits open up and the audience are enjoying tonight's support band more and more with each note played. The band end with the fan favourite 'The Space Between' which gets the best sing along of their set. Valencia seem to gain confidence from this and actually start to sound and perform something like the bands sound which is ever present through their record.

Kids In Glass Houses are enjoying a pretty successful 2008 so far. Their video's are on permanent rotation on MTV2, whilst they are ever present through Kerrangs pages and their promising and much hyped debut album Smart Casual is out in days. Things are definitely on the up! The Welsh band hit their Manchester audience with the kind of confidence that would be expected  at this level and throttle into their new albums opener 'Fisticuffs'.

It takes three minutes to turn the Academy 3 into a sweaty state through the energy created between the band and its audience's appetite to dance this Friday night away.They then preview another new song called ‘Girls’ which shows off glittery guitar work with a dance bass lead verse, showing that Kids In Glass Houses can certainly mix their style of songs up.Easy Tiger is greeted with cheers as soon as it kicks in and its sounds big and impressive throughout the venue. KIGH’s sound is very full and the mix is perfect which makes the sing a long choruses sound immaculate throughout the night.

A surprising cover song is then thrown into the set, and tonight's treat is The Jam's classic, 'A Town called Malice'. Surprisingly this mainly teenage crowd responds excellently and where Kids in Glass Houses bring nothing new to this cover, they certainly bring a nice 2008 rock taste to it.

The rest of the welsh rockers set is filled with songs from their new album and all include stand out parts which really promises an impressive debut album. Shameless and Raise Hell are two of the stand out songs and as the bands set goes on their energy never dies. It's clear to say all 5 members of Kids in Glass Houses are loving every minute of their time in the spotlight, and this is easily transferred into the rockshow they are putting on for the Academy 3 crowd.

There's only really going to be one song that could end Kids in Glass Houses impressive showcase of their new material, and that's arguably the song that propelled them into the limelight. 'Give me what I want' gets a huge cheer from the audience and each word sung from vocalist Aled is echoed immediately by the hundreds present at the Academy 3.

Overall Kids in Glass Houses have provided more than a substantial amount of evidence that they have what it takes to possibly become a massive band within the UK and maybe the US rock scene. They ooze confidence and have incredibly catchy and loveable songs which can only propel them to bigger and better things.

Words: Joe Lennox
Pictures: www.markforrer.co.uk

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