If you haven’t heard of The Narrow, well then I’m guessing you most probably spent the last three years in a Zimbabwean jail humming to the Barbie-girl tune of the guard’s mobile phone to keep you sane. Congratulations on your recent freedom! Unfortunately you also missed a superb line-up at the Blues Room on the 14th of June 2006.

Morgan Street and Walt, both exciting up-and-coming bands, opened for the big bad legends of South African Rock – The Narrow. (Unplugged this time.)

The venue was considerably less full than most of the Narrow’s other gigs I’ve been to. It was also decidedly more empty than The Parlotones’ evening at the same venue, but this simply displays that there is a fundamental musical difference between Joburg and Pretoria. Pretoria is by far the bastion of rock music in South Africa. Joburg is more mainstream pop/rock and dance.

My dilemma for this review was how to approach it in an unbiased fashion. I’ve been on a bit of a downer about The Narrow since their somewhat bland performance at Oppikoppi, and I didn’t want that to affect my opinion of this gig.

Fortunately I gave up trying to be unbiased and will now simply give my jaded opinion in all its outspoken glory.

I am disappointed with The Narrow. Sure, they had a good intro ala Pink Floyd, and despite the use of acoustic guitars they still sounded a lot bigger than unplugged, which is a good thing. More so, in a stroke of genius they tricked out their song Lonely lonely with a reggae beat for the unplugged version. Great stuff. They’re a heavy nu-metal-ish sound with Hanu’s soulful, impained voice driving some tight guitar work over some smart drumming. They’ve carved out their own niche style in SA music and they’re a mean package that has all the potential to go huge (and by all means is huge already).

So why do I say disappointed when I’m praising them so?

They look tired and they don’t have any passion. Not like they used to. Their energy is fading. They’re no longer having fun out there. The only smile I saw the entire evening came from the drummer. Yes I know their music doesn’t lend itself to smiles, but deadpan empty expressions on sparkle-free eyes show that they are simply going through the motions. Another day, another gig, some more bucks for the rent. It’s really sad to see their passion and hunger is missing.

I hope they prove me wrong. I hope I’m just being a pessimist coming off a “Narrow high” and reading too much into their actions. Indeed, they’re worth watching anyway and the unplugged is a treat. If you haven’t seen them unplugged, go watch that act as soon as you can.

Beer Price: R 12.00
Quality of sound: 10.0
Rockstar rating: 9
Overall rating: 8.5

Tags: TheNarrow, 52Weeks, unplugged, SouthAfricanRockMusic, SouthAfricaMusic, music, rock, metal, BluesRoom, Walt, MorganStreet, Oppikoppi

Why 52Weeks? For all the free swag.