I missed MORNING RUNNER at this year's V Festival, so here was my chance to prove myself right.
There's been an almost indecent amount of speculation about this lot, considerably more than most out there, with a fair few people championing them as the next best thing since the split of Toploader and a whole host of A&R people circling around like vultures ready to swoop on some hairy, lairy meat.
No seriously, having supported the likes of King Monkey (Ian Brown), Snow Patrol and one of the biggest bands around in Coldplay (whether you like them or not), I thought this band must carry some clout.
And therein lies the problem. They simply sound like Coldplay. And it's not enough.
So let's do the factual stuff. Morning Runner are Matthew Greener on guitar and vocals, Tom Derett on bass, Ali Clever on drums ad Chris Wheatcroft aka "Fields" on keyboard. It may be a good idea that they all start using aliases, so people can't find out who they are.
By no means are they are a rubbish band. Competence is the watchword, they know exactly what they are doing, and proceed to do it very well. It's just that I can't stomach the idea of YET another band like Chris Martin's, making uninteresting, insipid lifeless music.
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OK, Morning Runner have a commercial appeal of sorts. They can knock out nice melodic sound, with soft vocals and a foot tapper of a tune. There is a smooth polished sound to them, the sort that will get on Wogan's breakfast show playlist.
But equally, there is no real stage presence here, nothing to make the heart beat faster and make them sound like credible contenders except by continuing to ride Coldplay's coat-tails.
So yeah, Morning Runner will quite possibly go on to sell many records, but that doesnt mean anything. Mr fucking Blobby had a number one, right?
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