Art Brut - Top Of The Pops

The fabulous band Art Brut celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. They have released a Best of album called „Top of the pops“, obviously, and are on tour to celebrate this. I was one of the lucky people to be at the tour‘s opening show in Cologne last Friday.

Around that show, which was once again excellent, I came to think about why I like Art Brut so much. And many reasons came to mind. Well, obviously because of their great music and Eddie Argos‘ great lyrics. They don’t take themselves too seriously and seem to enjoy themselves tremendously, but at the same time they care more about their music and their fans than probably most other bands do. Quote Eddie Argos: „I like talking about pop music more than I like kissing.“ 

They also are an amazing live act. I rarely can think of another band where you almost have a guaranteed good time at the show – and that’s even when Jasper Future plays until his finger starts bleeding. During the Cologne show, They more or less scrap their setlist and play songs randomly shouted on stage by the crowd - what other band would do that? Makes you want to rock out, just like Modern Art! And Eddie Argos is a really brilliant entertainer, telling stories between, or also in the middle of, songs and giving the people a good time.

Their Best of album is not just a lifeless compilation of singles. You get the feeling that the tracks were put together with much thought. This is underlined by the sleeve notes that Eddie Argos has delivered to every single track on the double CD. The second CD contains, amongst others, some „bootlegs and b-sides“, as it goes in „My little brother“ and is, in contrast to similar CDs from other bands, very entertaining.

The band is one of the most, if not the most, likeable band I have ever come across. Not only on stage, but also before and after the show. You can have a chat with them, drink with them and they have a great taste of music – not only because they always have good support bands on tour with them.

And also: what other bands sells great t-shirts for a mere €15? That is a real bargain in many ways, especially if you look at other band t-shirt prices (And, Eddie, that’s just two Euros more than going to theVan Gogh Museum, right?). Even more so when you consider that I could choose between a free comic and a poster as an extra give-away (I chose the poster - I also have a t-shirt with that motif). 

Besides the "usual" merchandise, you can also buy hand made and numbered paintings by Eddie Argos. They refer to songs or lyrics from the band, which is a great idea in my opinion. I once bought one, too, although not after a show but via his blog. 

So, without sucking up to them, I really enjoy their work and hope I can do so for quite some time in the future - even if they are, by their own standards, a "classic rock band" now! I can vividly remember dancing to their first songs ten years ago and hope to still dance to their songs when I'm grey and old. Other bands went and other bands came, I'll still remember my old flame...