The La's

Back in the early 90’s, just before the invasion of Britpop, and a little bit before the world was forced to endure the terror of The Spice Girls there was a little Liverpudlian group called The La’s.

The brains behind The La’s were the partnership of Lee Mavers and John Power. The band released their eponymous album back in 1990 and then promptly split up, leaving the world with debatably one of the greatest British records of all time.

In that time Powers rode the wave of Britpop with his brilliantly average Cast, before turning to a fairly unsuccessful solo career and Lee Mavers disappeared entirely. Somehow, The La’s have returned and secured a slot underneath fellow scousers The Coral.

The La’s played through their album like the last 15 years had just been a blip for them. Mavers looked disheveled, like he had just woken from a bad dream and someone had just thrust a guitar into his hands, and considering his 15 year absence this probably wasn’t too far from the truth.

Powers bounced enthusiastically from foot to foot, as the gormless drummer, a school friend of Mavers was forced to play standing up, exactly the same way as ex-drummer Nick Miniski played.

A cheer went round the crowd as soon as ‘There she goes’ was begun. In this day and age it still seems that The La’s were relying on this singular hit for their success, and considering that only originally charted at number 13, and then again at 68 a few years back – it seems odd that The La’s are so popular.

There is still a foot tapping charm to The La’s that most bands lose as time goes on (The Stereophonics in particular). Perhaps if The La’s had continued through the 90’s they would have lost this magnetism that is an essential component of the group.

Maver’s, a known perfectionist, must have been happy with the spot-on performances of ‘Son of a gun’ and the catchy ‘I can’t sleep’. As the set progressed you could see the band begin to loosen up, relax and start to enjoy being on a stage once more. Power always seemed more at home on stage than in the recording studio and was clearly enjoying this chance to rekindle some of the success he had previously enjoyed.

‘Way Out’ and “Feelin’ were also included in the set list. As well as the superb ‘Doledrum’. Old fans went away happy and no doubt a few younger Coral fans were converted, although what the future holds in store for The La’s is anyone’s guess!

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