Morning Runner @ ULU | livemusic.fm

You can't help feeling the slightest pangs of sympathy for Morning Runner. With expectations weighing heavily on their young shoulders, the Reading quartet have found themselves occupying that undesirable and lonely no-man's land between anticipation and deliverance. Following tours with kindred spirits Athlete and Snow Patrol, the story soon spread that, having been stopped in his tracks upon hearing Morning Runner's work-in-progress, Chris Martin scrapped the recording of "X & Y" to start anew in an effort to jump the bar that had just been raised by these Berkshire whippersnappers. Apocryphal or not, it's a tale that hasn't exactly translated into a unit-shifting success story for Morning Runner. Which is kind of strange; the more cynical amongst you would swiftly dismiss them as filling time until Gwyneth lets Chris go out and play with his friends once more and Keane wait for their beds to dry but in truth, Morning Runner play with a far harder edge than either of those bands and there's no doubting that they could have the East Sussex trio in a punch-up any day of the week (but then again, one suspects, so could The Sugababes). Perceived pugilistic skills aside, part of Morning Runner's problems stem from the fact that they haven't quite established the direction that they're heading in. "Punching Walls" and "Work" are two pieces of bombast that splash, crash and generally lurch around like Keane on steroids while the piano-led ballad "Oceans" is not unlike being lost at sea; plenty of furious paddling but not really going anywhere. What Morning Runner are struggling to attain is the prize of the Big Music, those huge expansive aural vistas that The Waterboys brought to you through your speakers. Instead, the image of Supergrass reading the evening news is evoked while "Burning Benches" is exactly what Atomic Kitten's "Whole Again" would sound like if Coldplay decided to cover it. They have their moments: "It's Not Like Everyone's My Friend" is an explosive set opener and "Have A Good Time" - despite the laughable sentiments about "not selling out" from a band signed to EMI - is an unexpected flash fire of cranked-up guitars, while Matthew Greener's impassioned vocal delivery raises eyebrows as much as hopes and, indeed, fears. On the basis of Morning Runner being given the precious commodity of time to forge their own identities, there's every chance they'll be big; it's whether they ever achieve greatness that's highly debatable. by James Marshall