Artist: The Drums
Venue: O2 Academy, Bristol
Date: 08/12/2011
When it comes to seeing a band play a live show, the atmosphere of the entire room is definitely one of the many factors that contributes to making the night one to remember. In the Case of The Drums at the 02 Academy, the venue was ‘intimately spacious’ (two words not often put together) and the crowd were both excited and impatient to see perhaps one of the most popular and admired indie bands of the moment.
As the support acts finished the crowd within the 02 became noticeably larger and the level of excitement from the crowd grew considerably. As The Drums dispersed on stage and began their set, one of the most admirable parts of the entire show had to be the dance moves of the lead singer, Jonathan Pierce, who had even the most shy of revellers dancing along with him from the offset.
As Pierce continued to sway beautifully to some of their most infamous tracks, which included ‘Best Friend’ and ‘Down by the water’, it did at times become apparent that the band were slightly fatigued from their tour. Although this didn’t affect their talent or ability in any obvious way, it did however have an effect on the mood of the lead singer. At one point Pierce did humorously refer to the general atmosphere of the crowd as a ‘Conference room’ but this joke was lost on the crowd as they were still in shock that he had expressed his feelings of distaste towards a front fan for screaming his favourite song at the band whilst they played their set list. Despite this, he did show his gratitude towards fans eventually, by voicing his appreciation for their presence and his surprise at their appreciative reception. So all was forgiven.
Something else that we felt was different is that there was a noticeable gap where ‘Let’s Go Surfing’ (arguably their most well-known song) wasn’t included in their performance and a few barks from the crowd were voiced because of this. Maybe the decision not to include this song acts as a signifier to the changes the band has seen since their first album, (including an adjustment to their line-up) or maybe they just didn’t want to.
However, without a lyric missing or a note out of tune, The Drums played their set well, and perhaps their two most well received tracks included the striking ‘Me and the Moon’ and the up-beat ‘Money’ which even saw the bar staff at the 02 bouncing along with the crowd. Out of ten the gig would get an 8 and HTF would definitely recommend them as a band to see live.
Reviewer: Emilie Hickling
