#Review: Bastille @ Brighton Centre, Brighton – 18/04/22

20/04/202220/04/2022 Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

On Monday 18th April 2022, Bastille arrived in Brighton for the closing night of their 2022 UK tour, in support of their fourth studio album, Give Me The Future. The night was incredible, with support from BIM and The Native. Here’s what we had to say about the sensational event…

BIM

Following a last-minute line-up change, due to singer, Dylan, being unable to perform, long-time Bastille backing singer, BIM, stepped up to perform as first support of the evening. Whilst she only performed 2 songs, she wowed the audience with her incredibly powerful, and soulful voice. Songs, ‘O.T.R.’ and ‘Cinematic’ both had sexy vibes to them, the latter of which makes references to a selection of films, which BIM invited the audience to guess which ones she was singing about. The singer was candid with the audience about being alone on the stage and asked for the support of the crowd, which they gave readily. A great singer, with some incredibly dynamic vocals – definitely one to look out for.

The Native

This band were an interesting act – they’re clearly young but quite experienced. Unfortunately for the singer, he was having trouble with his guitar which threw him off slightly, however they remained professional throughout the show delivering a flawless performance. That said, they could have used a little more personality, energy and smiles in their stage presence and whilst they have well-written songs, if I’m honest, they were not the most captivating tunes. That aside, they did manage to get the crowd excited for Bastille and their song, ‘In My Mind’ was a real stand-out performance.

Bastille

From the moment the band took to the stage, there was a huge surge of excitement and cheering from the anticipating crowd, particularly when singer, Dan Smith, emerged at the back of the stage, on a high platform in front of a white rectangular backdrop.

From start to finish (of the 100-minute set), this was a truly captivating experience; probably one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen! The production was instantly impressive with a cool stage set-up, that saw crossed-shaped lights dance across and above the stage, whilst a massive stage-wide screen displayed a variety of stunning visuals at the back of the stage, throughout the set.

Much as with their fourth studio album, Give Me The Future, the entire set was broken up by audio-visual interludes that made the whole performance feel as if you were part of a wonderful cyber experience.

The set was packed with an impressive amount of songs and featured both new and old tunes that had the audience singing along with every word! Even some of the deeper cuts from previous albums as well as those from their latest, had the audience ecstatic.

Despite the nearly seamless flow to the set, the band were truly considerate of their crowd too, stopping the performance a couple of times whilst people who had passed out were carefully lifted out of the crowd.

The band were highly energetic and showed off just how refined they have become at performing in a big concert venue. They’re true professionals and giants in their genre, who deserve their every success.

Without a doubt, this band are a phenominal live act to watch and will have you jumping and singing along within seconds of taking to the stage. Whilst this tour may have now drawn to a close, I’m sure the band will be back and touring again, having said they missed performing during the Covid pandemic, and I cannot recommend watching them, highly enough – they will not disappoint!

Highlights:

When singer, Dan Smith, jumped off the stage and into the crowd, during the band’s performance of ‘Happier’, it created a massive buzz throughout the audience and had everyone hyped up (watch the video below as I came face-to-face with him in the crowd!)
The appreciation for their fans just being there was evident and the love for enabling their latest album to reach Number 1 was felt by all.
The diversity of the set was really thrilling, with a combination of new and old, fast and slow songs, meaning the crowd were kept on their toes throughout.
The stage design was amazing – it enhanced the performance without detracting from the band themselves in a wonderfully immersive way.
‘Things We Lost In The Fire’, ‘Happier’, ‘Of The Night’, ‘Future Holds’ (due to BIM‘s stunning vocals!) and ‘Pompeii’ were definite highlights of the show.

📷 All of the photos in this post are credited to Michael Hundertmark 📸
Why not give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter or check out his website.

Setlist

Stay Awake?
Distorted Light Beam*
Things We Lost In The Fire
Laura Palmer
Oblivion
Those Nights
Quarter Past Midnight*
Back To The Future*
Plug In…
WHAT YOU GONNA DO???
survivin’
Good Grief*
Promises
Give Me The Future
4AM
No Bad Days
Happier*
Run Into Trouble*
Of The Night
Future Holds (with BIM)
Pompeii*

Encore
Hope For The Future
Shut Off The Lights (with The Native)

* These songs can be viewed in the YouTube playlist, below.

Finally, I want to say an enormous thank you to Jenny Entwistle from Chuff Media for sorting out this review for us and to Bastille, The Native and BIM for putting on a remarkable event!

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#FeelGoodFriday: modernlove. – Follow You

25/03/202225/03/2022 Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

modernlove. are possibly one of the most exciting bands to come out of Ireland in recent years. With vibes similar to that of The 1975, the band have a sound that is both current and exciting, yet the vocals of singer, Barry Lally, are beautifully raspy and wonderfully powerful.

For this Feel-Good Friday, I couldn’t resist sharing their latest single, ‘Follow You’ – it’s upbeat, pure fun and has a massive, pop-fuelled chorus. It builds brilliantly throughout, to a clap-along breakdown before kicking back in to the catchy chorus. It is begging to be sung and danced to live at one of their shows…I just hope the band make their way to Brighton soon so I can catch one of their gigs!

As for the video – it perfectly encapsulates the song too, mirroring the fun nature of the song. It sees the band singing to the song in front of brightly-coloured backgrounds whilst focusing on a leading lady that is enjoying the song in her headphones, with the band performing behind her.

If you haven’t heard of modernlove. yet, you best get familiar with them as this song is surely going to propel them on to big things.

What are your thoughts of this up-and-coming Irish band? Do you have a #FeelGoodFriday track to recommend us? Please leave your thoughts or song suggestions in a comment or via social media.

Matt – Muzik Speaks
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‘Follow You’ can be downloaded from iTunes now – https://music.apple.com/gb/album/follow-you/1605247195?i=1605247951

#Review: Sea Girls – Homesick

17/03/202218/03/2022 Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

Sea Girls are a UK-based indie rock band that formed in 2015, consisting of four members: Henry Camamile (vocals and guitar), Rory Young (lead guitar), Andrew Dawson (bass) and Oli Khan (drums). Since their formation, the band have become known for their high-energy shows and big indie anthems. With a string of EPs and a debut album behind them already, 2022 sees the release of the band’s sophomore album, Homesick. Here’s what we have to say about it…

From the outset, it is clear that this band have worked hard to create an album packed with anthemic chorus and catchy hooks that are begging to be sung along to in big arenas.

Album opener, ‘Hometown’, serves as an epic introduction to the record with its euphoric, stadium-filling sound, before leading into single, ‘Sick’ – the rhythm chugs throughout, whilst vocalist, Henry Camamile, sings about all the things he’s “sick” of and how he wishes he could turn back time to when he was a child and times were more innocent.

Next is ‘Lonely’ – another big song with its eerie whistling (like something you might expect to hear in an old Spaghetti Western) and a massive chorus about the loss of an old flame.

There’s so much to love about the record, but some of the best tracks on the album include: ‘Someone’s Daughter Someone’s Son’ – a song that starts with a deep vocal before picking up the pace and launching into some serious feel-good vibes to the beat; ‘Paracetamol Blues’ with its upbeat, The Killers-esque vibes; and the incredibly danceable ‘Higher’ that features processed beats (in parts) and has a very Walk The Moon-type feel to it.

Homesick is an album that brilliantly cements Sea Girls as giants of the British indie music scene.

‘Sleeping With You’ sees Camamile singing of remembering an old love whilst sleeping with someone new, ‘Again Again’ has a big stadium feel to it and the wonderfully appreciative ‘Lucky’ looks at how “lucky” they are for the things they have in their lives and the time and place they were born into.

‘Cute Guys’ stands out (not necessarily for the right reasons) as an other-worldly song that starts with acoustic guitars, spacey-sounding synths and cracking vocals before descending into a chaotic, shouty and altogether quite horrifying track that’s so different from the rest of the record.

The album closes with the nostalgia-infused ‘Friends’ that’s calling out for members of the crowds at their live shows to put their arms around one another and embrace a shared experience.

Homesick is an album that brilliantly cements Sea Girls as giants of the British indie music scene. It’s eclectic, interesting, poetic and packed with songs that will have you coming back time and again. There are clear inspirations taken from bands before them, but they have used these influences to craft something wonderful. For those who are already fans of the band, this is going to prove a real treat to listen to. Whilst others who are new to their work, will find this a great starting point to get excited about them and is sure to have you delving into their debut album too. All I know is that it’s left me excited to see what direction they will take next.

Rating

‘Homesick’ is out now and can be downloaded from iTunes – https://music.apple.com/us/album/homesick/1579054914

Homesick on Spotify

Sick (Official Video)

Lonely (Official Video)

We hope you’ve enjoyed our review! What do you think of the band’s second album? Are you as much of a fan as us? What would you rate it out of 5? Please leave your thoughts in a comment or via our social media.

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#Review: James Arthur @ Brighton Centre, Brighton – 12/03/22

14/03/202214/03/2022 Matt Wright - Muzik SpeaksLeave a comment

On Saturday 12th March 2022, James Arthur arrived in Brighton to perform an incredible show in support of his latest album, It’ll All Make Sense In The End. With support from Sonia Stein, the evening was one packed with excitement and stunning performances. Here’s what we had to say about the show…

Sonia Stein

Sonia Stein was an interesting performer – she seems to eloquently blend funk and soul with contemporary pop, making for a really interesting sound. Think somewhere along a similar vein to Nao and you’re along the right track. She graced the stage in a bright yellow jacket, accompanied by just two band members, however between them, they produced a fantastically full-on sound. Between songs, she displayed an almost shy demeanour, yet her vocals were powerful, well-controlled and confident. If you’ve not checked her out yet, you can catch her live throughout James Arthur‘s current UK tour, or listen to her recordings on all streaming platforms.

James Arthur

He may have done something amazing simply by winning X Factor in the UK, but James Arthur demonstrated that he is so much more than just a talent show winner at his Brighton Centre show.

The singer/songwriter took to the stage to monumental applause from the packed crowd as he showed off not only his incredible vocals but his great guitar skills too, on opening track, ‘4000 Miles’.

From there, the artist proceeded to wow the audience with a mixture of his well-known hits, old cuts from previous records and some album-tracks from the recently-released, It’ll All Make Sense In The End.

The singer is undoubtedly a true professional, having spent 10 years in the industry, performing countless shows and releasing 4 albums to date, and his show appeared seamless throughout.

One thing that truly stands out in his performances though, is just how incredibly powerful and achingly beautiful his voice is live. Of course this is something you’d expect from having heard his studio recordings but it translates so well to his live performances as he shows off just how technically impressive his voice is…and it’s all done so effortlessly.

James Arthur engages with the crowd well telling little anecdotes here and there but particularly shows his gratitude to the crowd for their decade of support since winning the X Factor and how grateful he is to the show for allowing him to pursue his dreams, before launching in to the incredible single that started it all, ‘Impossible’.

Four albums in and nearly a couple of handfuls of tours down, it’s easy to see why this singer/songwriter has picked up such a fantastic following and just how wonderful his shows are. Whether you know each and every song or are relatively new to his music, I can’t recommend highly enough, seeing him live whenever you get the chance. He will not disappoint.

Highlights:

His vocals – I said it earlier, but his voice was truly remarkable – powerful and dynamic; something mesmerising to behold live.
The cruel joke he played on the audience by welcoming out Anne-Marie to perform an acoustic rendition of The Greatest Showman cover, ‘Rewrite The Stars’, before admitting she wasn’t actually coming.
The renditions of ‘Happy Birthday’ he sung to a couple of members of the crowd were hilarious, particularly when he couldn’t hear the name of one of them and had to keep getting them to repeat their name numerous times.
The addition of a section of ‘Ready Or Not’ in the middle of ‘Sermon’ made for a great crowd-pleaser.

📷 All of the photos in this post are credited to Matteo D’Ambrosio 📸
Why not give him a follow on Instagram.