| venue / date | source |  date |
| Northumbria University - 8 november 1994 | the courier | november 1994 |
NED'S ATOMIC HAS-BINS?
When top indie popsters Neds Atomic Dustbin recently played the University of Northumbria, The Courier sent down Miles Starforth to see if their blend of indie pop still touches the kids that other bands cannot reach.
IT'S HARD to really dislike Ned's Atomic Dustbin. For whatever reason I've tried, and failed.
To say their silly haircuts, pervasive t-shirts, funny accents, dodgy bass-lines etc. simply piss me off is an understatement. Perhaps I'm not the pop kid I once was. I'm not really sure.
But anyway I arrived at the venue not knowing really what to expect, particularly as the last time I saw them is best forgotten. It was mind-numbingly dull.
Still, they couldn't be that bad again. And they weren't.
The thing about Neds is, while you're inclined to hate them, their pop songs just (and only just) redeem them.
Old 'favourites' such as "Happy", "Grey Cell Green" and "Cut Up" were given an airing, while their newer songs, from next year's album, show the haven't lost all of their pop edge.
The kids, much in evidence, haven't lost their's either. There was a fine display of moshing to boot.
Having said that, so many of their songs don't have the pop appeal of "Happy". They are simply boring.
Too often the vocals and guitars fused into a noisy, but monotone drawl. Good to mosh to, yes. But not so good to listen to.
Ned's Atomic Dustbin it seems, are a long way from licking the Beastie
Boy's, or Thrum's, boots.
And that's something every decent band should aspire to do.