12th September 2015
Thursday night, I found myself upstairs above The Garage venue in Islington, waiting for the London stint of the 'Hi There Tour' to begin. It was small, hot, and dark, but it was the perfect size to see two bands I have been raving about for weeks; Best Years and WSTR.
First on to start the night was Larkhill, and before Thursday I had my reservations about this band, having only heard one of their songs prior to the night. However, these reservations quickly disappeared as soon as they started playing. They jumped into life for the small crowd that had started to gather with a mix of songs that were hard to place into any specific genre. One minute it was pure punk at its finest, next it was pop-punk, and every now and then came a sense of jazz guitar work. It was interesting to say the least, but more importantly, it set the tone for what was to be a fantastic night out. 3/5
The second act of the night were Homebound, and they brought their A game straight from the off, as they tried to encourage the crowd to get involved and warmed up for the headliners. Sadly though, this was a difficult crowd who seemed uninterested in moving around, and that was a real shame as Homebound played a killer set that could easily see them headline their own tour in the not so distant future, even with a minor technical hiccup that was no fault of theirs. 3/5
The brilliant Best Years entered onto the stage next, and this time the crowd did as they were told, moving a lot closer to the action. It was loud, there were people (attempting) to crowd surf, and a couple of fans even got to help out with the chorus on a few songs. It was starting to look like Best Years were bringing this quiet crowd out of their shell. Then they started playing a cover of Good Charlotte's 'The Anthem' and it is safe to say EVERYONE in the room sang along, it was an incredible thing to see from a crowd that had been relatively static until this point. 4/5
Finally it was time for the headline act, and there was definitely a buzz of anticipation waiting for WSTR. When they came onto the stage, they brought with them a sea of beach balls (seriously, it was like they had raided Argos before the show), which really set the tone for what was going to be an extremely fun and exciting end to the show. As WSTR started to play, the pit opened up. However, this was no ordinary pit! No moshing occurred, the space was cleared for some football antics involving the beach balls! As the show carried on, my friend took a beach ball to the back of her head, earning herself a shout out from the band, who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the events unfolding in front of them. Sadly though, after playing an amazing set, the show had come to an end, but I could have easily watched WSTR play through the whole gig again. They put on an unbelievable performance, and I look forward to their next outing in London, which I hope comes a lot sooner than later. 5/5
Sam Muckley
@s_muckley
No comments:
Post a Comment