Emp!re - The Vic Swindon, 27/07/16

On Wednesday evening, I managed to drag myself away from Pokemon hunting for a few hours, and with that time I decided to head down to The Vic to see local band All Ears Avow supporting Emp!re. I've never been disappointed by one of their sets, but I hadn't seen them since their headline show at The Vic over a year ago - it had been far too long.
I hadn't actually heard about their new EP, 'Reach (Side A)', so half of their set was new to me. Both 'Getaway Car' and 'Reach' can be found on the aforementioned EP, and I enjoyed both songs so much that I bought it at the show; I'll definitely need to give it a proper listen (and keep a closer eye on the band!). 'Weight of the World' is also a new song - one that the band have been playing on their recent tours - and while I liked the All Ears Avow that I've been seeing over the last year, this is an entirety new beast. There's been a noticeable shift towards the rock side of their pop-rock category, and while there are still tracks that you can dance and sing along to, it makes the set more emotionally involving and a whole lot more effective.

Setlist:
Waiting Games
Weight of the World
Better Now
Home
Getaway Car
Reach

I hadn't heard of In Dynamics before the show, but their set ended up being my favourite of the evening. With a cleaner sound than All Ears Avow, their sound definitely leans towards pop-punk - the easy to dance to beats and catchy lyrics make it impossible not to enjoy them when you're listening to them.
Physical copies of their debut album, 'Everything I See', arrived on the morning of the show following its release two weeks ago, so I had to snap one up, and I've been listening to it constantly since. There's something very special about these guys, and when vocalist Beau Boulden thanked the crowd and said "we've never even been to Swindon before, so it's amazing that some of you guys know the words" and it's testament to the fact that this band are making waves.
I want to say more about In Dynamics, because I'm so excited about them, but other than saying that their set was pretty much perfect there's nothing else to say. I'm going to be keeping track of these guys, though.

Setlist: 
A String of Losses
Another Minute
We Are Liars
The Weight of Wait
-
Existence Precedes Essence
Waking Life

(I couldn't find the title of In Dynamic's fifth song, please contact me if you were at the show!)

The first time I saw Emp!re they were supporting Tonight Alive and they had to fight with everything they had to stand out: they were opening, while second up were the captivating Zoax, and it meant they were completely forgotten by the end of the evening. I was excited to see them again, but I don't know if I would have bothered if All Ears Avow hadn't been on the bill.
I was pleasantly surprised by their set and they ended up really impressing me. It seems as though the last two years have done very good things for the band. Whereas before I complained that all of their songs sounded the same, now the subtle nuances of the songs are brought to the forefront, and Joe Green's stunningly high vocal is the cherry on top of a musically delightful cake.
However, I did still find myself getting a little bored. I hate to say that, because it was a brilliantly performed set, but I could feel my attention drifting. It might have been my desire to return to the Pokemon hunting, it might have been the fact that I'd had a long day at work as was looking forward to going to bed, but I just didn't enjoy the last half of their set as much as I did the first half, or the two other bands who performed in the evening.
I do have to congratulate the crowd on their reaction, though. Midweek gigs are never as successful as weekend shows, so to have such a notable turn out at a show on a Wednesday night? It was rather impressive. I've been to Wednesday shows in Swindon before that have had a mere handful of people in the room. It helped that All Ears Avow were on the bill - they can always draw a crowd, and are quite a success in our little town - but the crowd swelled again for Emp!re's headline set: not many people went home after seeing the band that they liked, so it gave the others a chance to perform to new faces.  
It was exciting when Emp!re decided to perform an encore - not many bands who come to Swindon have enough material to be able to come back after that "one more song!" chant, but the chanting was so raucous that it would have been rude not to reappear! However, it just didn't seem necessary at this stage. I'm holding out hope that the band will keep writing and releasing more varied music - they're missing that something special that will elevate them to bigger venues on their next tour.

I couldn't get Emp!re's setlist, because while Joe's voice is very impressive it can also be quite indecipherable. If you were at the show and know which songs were played, please comment down below!

Decade - The Vic Swindon, 27/04/15

A mere six months have passed since the last time Decade played Swindon, so I was ecstatic when they announced that they were coming back, and though last night was an eclectic mix (to say the least) it also ended up being one of the most fun shows I'd been to in a very long while.

The opening act, Heartwork, was definitely my highlight out of the three support bands. Playing acoustic music straight from the heart, Dan O'Dell poured everything he had into his half an hour set, and I was impressed by every moment. I'm a real sucker for emo acoustic music (Front Porch Step, Rob Lynch, This Wild Life) but it's not something we've ever had much experience of here in the UK, so it was brilliant to encounter such a fabulous lyricist performing on my home turf. 'I Went To Parts' is one of the most revealingly honest songs I've heard in a very long time, and I think this is going to be a song that I'm listening to for a long time to come. 

None of the songs were disappointing and every single one brought something different to the show - even though Dan was fighting with sound problems for a good chunk of his stage time. And as well as being a brilliant performer, Dan is a hilarious guy, and some of the comments he was coming out with between songs were the funniest things I'd heard in a very long time ("If you're here with a loved one... It's not gonna last!") making him seem like a blend of Aaron West and the Roaring Twenties with comedic American singer Bo Burnham. If you have a couple of quid, I'd sincerely recommend you download one of the Heartwork EPs - I'm sure you won't be disappointed. 

Second up were All Ears Avow, a local band who've gained a pretty big hometown following since the release of their EP, 'Home'. I'd seen them before, a couple of years ago, but I couldn't really remember what they were like, so I was absolutely blown away by their set. Recently all female-fronted bands seem to make pop-punk or pop-rock music, so it was refreshing to hear an alternative rock band with frontwoman Claire Sutton's vocals making them seem more similar to Halestorm than to We Are The In Crowd - it definitely gives them something different to push them ahead in this game.

Starting off with 'Better Now', a track reminiscent of a heavier version of Don Broco's 'You Wanna Know', they grabbed the crowd's attention immediately and did not let go of it for the entirety of their set. New song 'I Can Help You To Bend' was probably the catchiest song of the evening (not only because it employed my favourite instrument, the percussive egg, but because the hook was just so well written), followed closely by 'Waiting Games' and 'Tongue Tied', showing that their new songs are definitely their best songs. 

This band are definitely one who know who they are and where they want to go; the songs from their upcoming debut album 'Get In The Game' definitely demonstrated that their music is developing in a natural way that's likely to expand their fanbase dramatically following its release. I've already pre-ordered my copy, so I'd suggest you do so as well, because this band are definitely going to be one to watch - even more so if newest single 'Waiting Games' is an idea of things to come from the rest of the album. 

Setlist:

Better Now

Wings On Butterflies

Waiting Games

I Can Help You To Bend

Home

Tongue Tied

The heaviest band of the bill tonight were, by far, Big Nothing, a new band from Liverpool (well... new in this incarnation, they used to be known as Scouts). Seeming like a mixture between Bullet For My Valentine and Nirvana (so much like Nirvana, in fact, that they were verging on a tribute band), it all got a bit too heavy for me, and I didn't really enjoy their set. Musically, they were rather good, but most of their songs just seemed to blend in to each other, meaning that for the entire half an hour it just felt as though I was surrounded by discordant noise. Their banter was also lacking, with some of their jokes falling completely flat on the crowd, which was a shame - I hope they settle down and become more comfortable throughout the rest of the tour with Decade, because they just seemed much too nervous to make a real impact on anyone.

Decade's stage time was a bit later than anticipated, following a couple of microphone lead changes and some sound issues, meaning that they interacted with the crowd a lot more at the beginning of their set than they'd ever had a need to before, and I think it definitely made them more comfortable. Sometimes, especially when playing bigger venues, Decade seem as though they've gone a bit deer in the headlights and are incapable of talking to people, meaning that they music is brilliant but the atmosphere is a bit lacking, but that was not a problem tonight. With guitarist and backing vocalist Connor Fathers taking to the mic, he had the crowd laughing almost instantly, and you could tell that no one was too irritated with the delay taking place, because it just made the show that much more individual. Talking of the crowd, I was impressed with the turn out that this show saw - for a Monday night the venue was absolutely buzzing, and everyone got so involved with the show which was highly commendable.

When the music eventually did get started, it was a brilliantly constructed set featuring all of Decade's best songs, and two new ones. Playing the entirety of the 'Good Luck' album, as well as two older songs and the two new releases, it struck me how flawless their performance was (even with some technical issues making Alex's vocal seem a bit too quiet a points) and I was not disappointed to be seeing them again so soon after Takedown Festival. If you haven't seen Decade live yet, you're definitely missing something great, and I highly recommend you change that now. 

'Daisy May' was definitely my favourite song that they performed - the first of the two new ones - which sounded like a perfect blend between Kids In Glass Houses and Lower Than Atlantis. With so many great UK pop-rock bands calling it a day in the last year (Save Your Breath, Canterbury and Me Vs Hero to name but a few) there's definitely a big gap to be filled, and I'm certain that Decade are going to step up and fill it. 'Brand New Again' also sounded great, and the two new songs stood out from the set in such a way that it displayed how much Decade have grown since their first album release - they're a more mature band now, they know more about what they're doing and they're not afraid to take some risks and shake things up a bit.

The rest of the set was a standard Decade show, and while that is not a negative thing it also didn't surpass either of the new songs. I can't wait for album two to be released, because it's going to kick down some doors and really open up some new possibilities for Decade, and they definitely deserve it. A self-confessed support band who rarely play headline shows, it's time for them to start selling out some rooms of their own, and that day can't come soon enough. 

Setlist: 

Good Luck

Callous

Fool's Gold

Daisy May

Brand New Again

Brainfreeze

I Don't Care

Never Enough

Coffin 

Homebound

Low 

Fake Teeth

Woke

British Weather