The View @ Mercury Lounge, 1/3/07

My first show of 2007 brought me to the Merc to see what the fuss was about with Scotland's The View. Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos and famed Rolling Stone 3-star reviewer David Fricke were also in the crowd. I'm definitely a sucker for UK/Irish buzz bands and there have been tons of them across the last couple years - all fighting for exposure and success in the States. From Kasabian and the Kaiser Chiefs to Forward Russia and the Kooks, I've seen them all live and left each show impressed and believing the hype. That is until now. The View are the new NME darlings and they spent the last two nights at Mercury Lounge playing their first shows in the US. I'm a little surprised but the consenses over at Brooklyn Vegan seems to be pretty positive. I just didn't see it. Their sound is part Strokes, part Libertines with a bit of ska-flavor thrown into the mix. The band is extremely young - I believe 18 is the average age - so they'll get comparisons to the Arctic Monkeys (some have called them the Scottish Monkeys) but the comparisons should end there. I also caught the Monkey's second show in the States @ Bowery Ballroom and they were a much MUCH tighter band. Simply, The View needs practice. I won't be too harsh only because they're so damn young but I think they could have used more seasoning before attempting to win over crowds in the U.S. Aside from their UK hit singles "Wasted Little DJs" (which sounded great) and "Same Jeans" all of the other songs sounded alike to me. Their may be a future for this band but I'm not seeing it. Bring on The Fratellis.