I went to a gig yes another one, two this year. Now I know for many people that’s a lot. But to put this into perspective, over the last three weeks I have had nine gigs either postponed or cancelled completely, mainly US artists choosing not to get their feet wet over this side of the pond in these still uncertain times.
Onto tonight’s show. It’s a special gig in support of War Child supported by The Brits in what is also Independent Venue Week. So given all that it’s surprising that there’s no support act tonight. A wasted opportunity if ever there was one to showcase an up and coming new band.
After the last very disappointing show at this venue with Eliza Shaddad marred by a constant buzzing during the show there was no such problem tonight for these Irish punksters. It’s the second time seeing these guys in six months after a belated album showcase gig in Kingston in August.
Again it’s a short sharp set tonight taking in tracks from both of their albums along with live debuts for some new tracks off of the forthcoming new album. It’s another breathless assault on the senses but many of the songs have an underlying melody if you scratch below the surface.
I did feel however that both the crowd and the band were a little more restrained this time around. You still can’t keep your eyes off of lead singer Grian Chatten who has that Ian Curtis vibe, constantly moving stalking the stage. The rest of the band seem to be embracing their inner third album Arctic Monkeys with longer hair, multiple guitar changes with even a twelve string making an appearance on stage at one point.
It’s a fine show with the usual highlights for me of ‘Hurricane Laughter’ and of course the anthemic ‘Boys in the better land’ from their first album.
Chalk this up as another stepping stone of a band who are clearly trying to progress and certainly new song ‘Jackie Down the Line’ augurs well for the near future.
Keep on punk rock and rollin y’all