Wednesday 1^st October 2008 @ Academy, Bristol
With Support From: Headway

The Academy is surprisingly heaving with punters tonight for the arrival of One Republic in Bristol. This band have had a whirlwind 2008 with number one singles and album and collaboration with hip-hop uber-producer Timbaland (but who hasn’t nowadays).

Headway, the tour support, were a fairly similar affair to the headline act but all offensively good looking and buff but these guys did a brilliant job of whipping up the crowd. They constantly winked, waved and smiled their way into the ipods of the teen audience that made up the first ten rows. Their music seemed very safe and listenable but had nothing that really stood out for most of their set; it’s almost like America’s soft rock is going a little too soft these days. Having said that, the crowd were lapping it up and loved the interaction. Headway also vowed to ‘sign whatever you guys want’ outside the venue straight after the show and sure enough they were there as soon as the house lights were switched on happily greeting hordes of teens. If these guys had been touring and playing every night it certainly wasn’t dampening their enthusiasm for making new fans.

After a little while and a bit of a strange build up, One Republic took to the stage with roaring cheers from the whole venue. Their set up had a large electrical piano and a bass player who also plays cello throughout many of their songs. These instruments added a nice atmosphere and layered effect to the songs but made some a little contrived.

The lead singer, Ryan Tedder, turned out to be an instant showman and by the third number was already practically in the crowd holding hands and being groped. His voice is powerful live but seems to resort to a falsetto trademark which plagues a lot of American artists in my opinion. We really don’t need to hear your range on every song.

The majority of this set was always going to be the first album which to me all sounded very similar. However when they unveiled a new track for the next album (brought forward to early 2009) it seemed to have a lot more edge to it. The singles Stop and Stare and Apologise were mostly sung by the audience but were definite high points. A dodgy rendition of Crazy by Gnarls Barkley also helped to finish the set.

Overall these guys really know how to please fans and put on a show, it just seems that a lot of American rock is being made with the intention of it being played on shows like the OC and Smallville at an integral weepy moment. There’s soft rock then there’s elevator rock and this sits quietly on the fence waiting for a gust of wind.

www.onerepublic.net

Stu Freeman
Photos: Dan Marks