11

Fighting Spirit

Things conspired against Fighting With Wire tonight - Download is on this weekend and the weather in Cardiff is horrendous, torrential rain and gale force winds, meaning that those who haven't gone off to Donington haven't felt like venturing out. The result of all this is that the basement room at Undertone in Cardiff is shamefully empty. The reward for the stalwarts though is a cracking FWW set made up of first album favourites and a smattering of tunes from their upcoming album which is finally getting a release this September after four years of hanging in the balance.

It's great to see the Derry three piece back on the live circuit, understandably they take a couple of tracks to warm up, as the sparse crowd means the atmosphere is not exactly pumped, but once they do you instantly remember why you love to watch them perform - tracks like Cut The Transmission and Make A Fist from their Smalltown America records debut Man Vs Monster still sound warm and bouncy and the tunes they play from the new album Colonel Blood are fantastic, really getting you excited to hear it in full. They also play a couple of cracking tunes which didn't make the album but are available on their Soundcloud.

As always, FWW are tight as a drum and give the set their full attention despite the poor turn out; Cahir is as full of energy and Derry charm as always, chatting to the crowd and regaling us with occasionally gross but always funny stories, and the tunes, old and new, are catchy and so danceable you can't help moving along. It's time to get back out there and give this great band the attention they deserve.