I think it was 2003 when I saw the Polyphonic Spree live; the NME Awards Tour had rolled into Rock City and Paul, my friend and neighbour, and I had blagged a pair of tickets and we ended up down the front. Which, to be fair, is where I always head for anyway. Even now. Memories of the night are pretty vague - I remember the Datsuns were on and they were fucking brilliant. I'd missed them a few months earlier when they'd played the Boat Club.
Anyway, the Spree. When they all trooped on they occupied every square inch of the stage; there seemed to be dozens of them. All clad in white choir robes it felt like a quasi religious experience - like we'd all gone down to the river to pray - à la O Brother Where Art Thou. And they were nothing short of amazing. I've always been a sucker for big old choral ensembles and the sheer vocal power alone was enough to knock you over. I must already have snaffled a copy of their first album as a lot of their set sounded familiar. You may or may not be surprised to know that they're still going. I know I was.
And then when I learned they'd covered Let 'Em In I thought 'of course they have.' Why would they not? See if you recognise them sans robes. And for those, like myself, who need a quick robe fix, look no further.
The Polyphonic Spree - Let 'Em In (2021)
In case you plan to extend this series (links long gone though):
ReplyDeletehttps://27leggies.blogspot.com/search?q=let+em+in
Series? Series?! Who do you think I am? Rol?
DeleteI see you've gone for the Paul. I remember thinking how powerful that was at the time.