It’s not often I’m genuinely excited to see someone new these days, but this was an exception! Having discovered Black of the Florence variety while having YouTube randomly feeding me music, I’ve since adopted “Sun Moon” as a song to fall asleep to after having moved on from the soothing sounds of Enya a couple of years ago. “That’s hardly a testament to the hardness and rockiness of these guys from Wales!” I hear you cry and in truth you’re absolutely right, but they’re melodic, contained, expressive and easy to listen to and learn their lyrics, and as such for me they’re ideal to just lay back and relax to. I’d had a running joke about the possible Pavlovian effect going on for weeks, suggesting that I might miss the rest of the set if they play it anywhere other than the encore! Fortunately, as it happens, it turned out it was indeed the last song played!
Well before that however ‘Skam UK’ took to the stage. Three guys based in Leicester with the vocal coming from the lead guitarist channelling a Kurt Cobain look but curiously the bass player is the main presence front and centre on the stage. Sadly, there was no setlist available so I’m struggling with song names to throw at you, but the sound was very professional, mixing styles that at times hinted at a cross between 90s grunge and Faith no More, neither of which are bad things.
There seemed to be a few technical issues at the O2 2 on the night resulting in an issue with the audibleness of lyrics, not only with Skam but also with perhaps the first 8 or so Florence Black songs too and thus identifying tracks played via lyrics was also not possible. Worthy of note thought was “Massacre”, a song easily detectable on the delight that is Spotify, as my notes logged “This has an air of Sabbath War Pigs to it” due to its bass driven intro, and darker tone, along with a vocal that was strong enough to bypass any of the aforementioned problems, only for it to morph into the Sabbath anthem! Singer Steve Hill was in the mood for this and advanced himself to a more prominent place on the stage and enjoyed himself. Similarly, too with “No Lies”, a song that could’ve easily be mixed in with Maiden’s Running Free, but also anything from the “Difficult to Cure” Rainbow album! Off the back of this performance, I’d see Skam again, and for me that’s quite a statement of approval!
It’s … difficult to say much about the first 8 or so songs from headliners Florence Black because of the sound issues. For those who were caught up in the mood it didn’t seem to matter as, they already knew all the lyrics to songs like “Coloured in”, which in all fairness had a feeling of mid 90s Fear Factory to it, and thus actually worked quite well in places, and also “Solid 9”. Somewhere in the middle of their new and currently unreleased track “Take My Word” though things picked up and by “Warning Sign”, coming in at track 10, the band I was hoping to hear have arrived.
Taking me by surprise though, especially at just over the halfway mark of the setlist came what’s their final track from the album ‘Bed of Nails’, sporting what sounded like the drum intro from Roxette’s “Must’ve Been Love” as its driving force throughout the song. Gentler, showcasing a now crystal vocal, again being provided by the guy who’s also the lead guitarist, I recall considering this might be a new addition to my sleep playlist! It’s surprisingly pretty and very welcome as a contrast from the over-deviation/over-modulation that had plagued earlier offerings.
As if to again kick into contrasts “Can You Feel it” smacks the metaphorical arse of the idea of “gentler” into the past as if it was wearing those shiny pants favoured by the ladies these days, and the energy in the room becomes palpable again. Crowd pleaser? Absolutely! “Look Up” follows, more radio friendly, catchy, and has the feeling of an anthem song for the Welshmen on the tour, not least because they decide to drop in a tasty little solo into the mix. The O2 Academy 2 is not the biggest of venues but it’s certainly full enough to note the enthusiasm there. I was sporting both a Carter USM and Therapy? tee shirt, both of which raised a few eyebrows, and people were more than happy to engage between songs and in all honesty I was surprised that a band with what I consider to have quite some prowess and presence played such a small location, but it made the whole experience that more intimate and that seemed to add a little extra touch of something else to the evening.
Coincidentally “Bed of Nails” had a beat to it that suggested intimacy might well be a viable option, and so, complete with a thumping bass line it was doubtless enjoyed somewhat by the fairer sex because of it, perchance putting the “vibe” into the resulting good vibes generated by said bass! Adding to the resulting smiles cue the almost obligatory Ozzy tribute, this time in the form of “Paranoid” which was suitably umm.. nailed I believe is the handily pun-tastic colloquialism! “Deadfan” follows and I’m reminded of the early Shinedown sound until the mid-song slowdown takes over, only for that distinctive guitar pitch to kick back in. There’s another decent solo in here again too and this time it’s Tristan Thomas’s time to enjoy himself after having been one pace back almost all evening from the front.
“Sun Moon” was the only encore, sang with enough vehemence by all there to stave off any fears of my possible somnambulance that might’ve come from my brain associating the song with sleep, and so I upped and left into the Birmingham night to subsequently get seriously saturated on the trek back to Wolverhampton, quietly pleased with myself that I’d not done a runner before the audio was fixed!
