Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It always feels right to have some Therapy? in your life, it is just a shame that the therapy some need, all they require, is not available upon the N.H.S., if it was there would be a lot more contented people out there. For the therapy they need comes in the shape and form of one of Northern Ireland’s great bands and as they blew away the Indigo Stage on a Saturday afternoon, as they paved the way for the main event in the other hall, the feeling was perhaps they might have been given the chance to really go to town as one of the big four acts inside the o2 Arena.

Such thoughts will always accompany any Festival, however the way that Therapy? controlled the crowd, made them tingle with excitement and then pushed them over the musical edge and into the realms of deep throbbing love was more than enough reason to make sure that they become a band you want to see on stage at least once a tour.

Reason enough to find yourself caught in a mosh, striding without care through the minefield of music and the obvious graft that the band have put in; it is the wonder and joy of well defined music that makes a festival complete, makes it stand out. The finding of the sometimes elusive, the conclusion to the sentence with a flourish, it all boils down to being open to take in the words. If it is not your bag then nothing can be done to sway the minds but defying the whim of pop adulation is a beast worth conquering and in Therapy? anything is truly possible.

Powerful and roaring tunes such as the cover of Joy Division’s Isolation, Lonely, Cryin’, Only, the fantastic Stories, Teethgrinder, Potato Junkie and Knives all came out of nowhere, took apart the lull of normal Sunday afternoons and collided with the indifferent in a pitch battle for supremacy; only one victor was ever going to remain standing and Therapy? was wearing the champion’s belt.

A pounding success live, Therapy? has the listener well and truly covered.

Ian D. Hall