Northumbria SU (02/05/00)
As with most gigs in Newcastle, the attendance here is abysmal; about 150 people stand in the 500-capacity venue, making it look like a youth club disco for students. Because Dark Star’s music is so intense, especially live, it needs a good crowd for the electrifying atmosphere to be conveyed to everyone. Due to the lack of people, this fails to happen, and the band stand on the stage and play their songs, while the audience fail to make any connection with each other or with the band...
However, effort is not lacking and Bic, Dave and Laurence make the same moves and play as ferociously as they ever have. One of the wonderful things about them is that they are all completely immersed in the music that they make. Their album, Twenty Twenty Sound, was recorded live in the studio, and because of this, the songs come across well when played at gigs. The highlights are the singles Graceadelica and I Am The Sun, as well as What In The World’s Wrong and the exquisite About 3am. Some new material is played tonight but failed to come across as successfully as the old songs, possibly because we know the old ones so well. It’s all in the same vein, and was criticised by some of my companions for being "the same as all the others... loud, quiet, loud, quiet".
A more favourable comment was that listening to their music and watching them play is "like swimming in the sea"; exhilerating, unpredictable, sometimes easy, sometimes hard, yet always beautiful and never boring.