Lostprophets

Lostprophets have a point to prove. Their most prodigious member, drummer Ilan Rubin, departed the band a year ago to join Nine Inch Nails for their touring swansong. With a new drummer, the band are now on tour once again, hoping to prove to the world that they don’t miss him.

The formula is simple: high-energy nu-metal with songwriting that often wanders into emo territory. Coat each track with a layer of guitar overdrive and some diet metal drums, and you have something rock enough to appeal to the ‘alternative’ kids, but palatable enough to have mass appeal. Vocalist Ian Watkins’ voice sails through the noise without gruffness or strain, reaching for the high notes with apparent ease. Watkins is counter-balanced by keyboardist Jamie Oliver’s screams, adding aggression when aggression is called for.

Tonight, however, aggression isn’t the band’s primary motivation. Tunes like ‘Rooftops’ and ‘Last Train Home’ excite the Corn Exchange audience into fits of leaping and pogoing, and even the lyrics (but there’s still tomorrow / forget the sorrow / and I can be on the last train home) seem more uplifting than is normal for the emo sensibility.

As the end of the set draws near, however, the band seem to be killing time; throwing bottles of water to the sweat-drenched crowd, and pouring on the praise so enthusiastically that it seems a little like a platitude: “You guys are pissing all over Glasgow!” Eventually, they get to the point and close with the broken percussion and staccato guitar riffs of ‘Shinobi Vs. Dragon Ninja’, the 2001 single that made the band’s name. As they leave, raucous cheers force a return to the stage, but their choice of encore leaves the audience more than a little bemused. ‘The Light Burns Twice As Bright’, a slow, eerie number from their latest album The Betrayed, seems a peculiar choice to round off the evening. In a gently ironic twist, the tune even seems vaguely evocative of Nine Inch Nails.