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Captain, Barfly, Birmingham
PITCHED somewhere in the cavernous gap between The Cure and Smashing Pumpkins, Captain are a confused band who just cannot be all things to all men.
Collectively they look like friends hanging out with a lack of specific identity or purpose and are in no way driven forward by frontman Rik Flynn, who lacks any sort of charisma and cutting edge.
Image is not everything but imagine Black Rebel Motorcycle Club taking to the stage clad in bright summer wear!
And in the main things fail to click for Captain as Broke, an airy Cardigans-style pop-stomp, testified with Flynn's vocal struggling to sit alongside the sweet songbird of keyboardist Clare Szembek.
The opener was a surprisingly meaty affair glued together with early U2-like atmospherics.
For once it seemed that Captain belong, but for how long?