Date: June 23rd, 2011
Venue: Moho Live, Manchester
Support: Captain Hotknives
Website: www.theblankswebsite.com
MySpace: www.myspace.com/theofficialblanksmyspace
Rating:
For those of you who are a little unaware of their background, The Blanks is a band from the hit medical sitcom Scrubs, where they were known as Ted‘s band. Did you know that Sam Lloyd (Ted) is the brother of Christopher Lloyd, aka Doc Emmett Brown from the classic film series Back To The Future? Small world, eh? Playing in the tiny intimate venue of Moho Live in Manchester, they say they have one hell of a show planned for us all.
Tonight’s support is Captain Hotknives (**), who is essentially Yorkshire’s answer to Stephen Lynch. His northern accent coupled with his absurd and surreal songs is a winning comedic combination… at first. It doesn’t take long for the Captain to become weird and eventually irritating. It’s kind of like putting a 5-year-old nephew in front of a microphone and letting him talk shit for a punishing 45 minutes. Don’t get me wrong, there were big laughs, especially when he sang about hating babies, or cleverly re-writing ‘Ring Of Fire’ to a song about male rape. Classy. Overall though, Captain Hotknives got a polite reception, but he also got ignored a lot too. Not so hot.
Leading up to the main attraction, the Moho Live venue is packed to the hilts. As the lights fall, a deep booming voice (the kind that narrates movie trailers) echoes through the venue. The Blanks (***) take the stage to a cascade of screams and roars and their beaming smiles come into light. Jumping straight into a medley of TV themes (including Underdog and Facts Of Life), the crowd loves them and instantly sings along. The rest of the set contains nearly all of the songs that they performed on Scrubs, much to everyone’s delight, peppered only with a few of their original songs.
They certainly put on a weird and most definitely wonderful show. They had a little choreography routine for every song, they brought on some strange toys to add sound effects to their Halloween songs, and they even put on Christmas hats whilst singing Flashdance‘s ‘Maniac’. To make the set run smoother, they ever put in some comedy sketches, which, admittedly, were a bit weak, but who cares? It’s Ted‘s band from Scrubs. The encore was immense too. Playing their infamous pop-charts-medley of ‘Teenage Dream, Barbra Streisand, Forget You and Dynamite’ before ending on the beautiful and moving cover of ‘Hey-Ya’.
There is no doubt about it, The Blanks were awesome. However, the evening as a whole was borderline unbearable. They played in Moho Live, a tiny underground club suited for punk and metal bands. First off, the sound was far, far too quiet, it was nearly impossible to hear them half the time, especially when they were talking. This coupled with the unforgettable dickheads standing at the back that would not shut the fuck up made for a night that could have been brilliant just above average. We came here to see The Blanks, not listen to your drunken ramblings about Neil at work, prick.
Tonight should have been a night about nostalgia for an amazing sitcom and basking in the soft soothing sounds of an acapella band. Instead it was an irritating, infuriating experience filled with people desperately trying to see, trying not to faint from the heat and telling people to shut up. If they had played in a bigger and possible seated venue, tonight would have been spectacular, and it’s a crying shame that it wasn’t.
Written by Andy Roberts
Tags: Captain Hotknives, The Blanks
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