kids in glass houses tonight is goodbye

KIDS IN GLASS HOUSES + Tonight Is Goodbye + SaidMike. Zodiac, Oxford.

24.10.07

Tonight Oxford is all about the future. Even from a distance the

Zodiac's line-up is glowing with good prospects, get closer and

there's a fluorescent pink flood of promise and potential washing down

the street, and once inside the building it's impossible to move for

the glare of a band who are going to be absolutely huge.

First on and Welsh wonders SaidMike may not have progressed a whole

lot since supporting The Blackout over the summer but continue to

impress nonetheless. In frontman Tom they've got a singer who can

actually sing, in their nifty keys and synth tricks they've got

everything they need to keep things interesting and in tunes like

`Mind Over Muscle' and `Heads Down...' they've got songs that could

take them supernova. If they would just lift their heads a little, and

maybe consider a name change, this lot could take over the world.

Planet-beating is something that Tonight Is Goodbye have promised for

a while now. They may already have some slick moves and stylish poses

down pat but this evening they expand their pop-rock arsenal

brilliantly- boosted confidence, a bigger sound and brilliant-sounding

new tunes helping them make the leap from local charmers to headline

contenders with ease. They finish with a riotous version of `Black

Dress', girls scream, boys sing, everybody dances like a loon and the

future, as they say, is most definitely bright.

Kids In Glass Houses sound close enough to that particular light to

explode any day now. Truthfully the band are still a toilet-tour

proposition and without a full-length to their name but, from the

first twinkling notes of their set to the final ballsy bounce of `Me

Me Me', the Cardiff quintet handle the pressure of such a stellar

supporting cast with ease. Frontman Aled is a super-self-assured

dynamo and the band behind him sound like Funeral For A Friend with

their passion fully restored, like Angels And Airwaves boiled to down

to atmospheric pop perfection and, much like the other bands on

tonight's bill, are clearly ready for rock'n'roll superstardom.

Tonight Oxford was all about the future. And in these days of retro

rock, vintage riffs and much British music looking desperately to past