This is
Young Guns biggest ever headline show, which was added after the initial London date of this tour at the Camden Barfly sold out at lightning speed. Tonight is a showcase of young British bands, all of which have the potential to become huge.
First up, hailing from Watford, are
Lower Than Atlantis. I’ve seen these guys many times before as support to other bands, and tonight is no different. What is different though, is the performance they give. Tonight they have knocked it up a notch from previous times I have seen them. Their album ‘Far Q’ is jam packed with tracks designed to make love with your ears, and not the gentle type! During their set they let rip with their unpolished urgent punk songs which are so often infused with catchy melodies which manage to get the dormant crowd moving. Album title track ‘Far Q’ along with every other song they play tonight show why they are one of the UKs new hopefuls and they don’t fail in getting every head in the venue nodding. With intelligent titles like ‘Im not Bulimic (I just wanted to see how far I could stick my fingers down my throat)’ they’re sure to grab people’s attention, and what makes it better is the fact that the song with these intelligent titles contain witty and intelligent lyrics that people can really connect with. During their short, but ferocious set,
Lower Than Atlantis have undoubtedly earnt themselves a huge bunch of new fans and I’m sure it won’t be long until they’re headlining this very venue themselves.
Flood Of Red are also a band that I’ve only ever seen as a support band, also making tonight no different. The Glaswegians have racked up tours with many major names, which isn’t surprising when you hear the quality of music that they play. Whenever I’ve seen
Flood Of Red on previous occasions i haven’t really been able to get into them, but tonight they have really surprised me. Sounding 10 times catchier, much tighter as a band and in my opinion have improved a lot since last time. With the vocals resembling Anthony Green (
Circa Survive) which really grabs my attention, their performance tonight has really impressed me, to the extent that id happily go see them when they headline.
Young Guns have made a massive impact on the music scene recently and quite rightly so. When their EP ‘Mirrors’ was released they were a common band to be on the bill of many gigs as support., but with the release of debut album ‘All Our Kings Are Dead’ this is set to change and they will undoubtedly soon be headlining those very venues they supported in. The debut album was released only days ago yet most of the fans here tonight seem to have memorised every lyric already, singing them back as if they were old classics.
Young Guns have a knack at writing extremely catchy songs which makes tonight exciting because it is so easy to get hooked up on every song.
When I’ve seen
Young Guns on many previous occasions, the shows became samey because they only had an EP worth of material, but now with their new album, and them playing tracks from it, it feels like I am watching a refreshed band tonight.
Young Guns have matured as a band and this is so clearly evident in their performance. Front man Gustav Wood has charisma by the bucket load as he bounds across the stage, and interacts with the audience at every available opportunity. And it seems he has many of the girls transfixed as they stare at him and try to catch his eye, including my sister who is here…who is a little bit obsessed with Gustav! And it’s when Gustav comes down to the crowd that these girls turn into rabid monsters trying to get their hands on any part of him that they can!
Young Guns rocket through songs from their album, clearly throwing all they have into every song, and I can sense that this show means so much to them, as Gus states on a few occasions. Latest single ‘Crystal Clear’ is one of their catchiest songs, with a chorus reminiscent of
You Me At Six. ‘D.O.A’ is easily their heaviest track and is my definite favourite, sounding noticeably heavier live, giving the moshers something to get their teeth into, while also giving their non-moshing fans something to enjoy with the infectious chorus.
Young Guns then give old school fans a treat by performing ‘There Will Be Rain’ with a twist. They ditch the electrics and go for an acoustic rendition, even inviting a cellist onstage. It’s good to see a band as young and new as YG try different things and they pull it off amazingly.
After a very short 10 song set they leave the stage to applause and screams equal to a gig at a much larger venue. But as every band does,
Young Guns return for one last song, and what better than the very first song that most of these people probably heard from them (well it certainly was for me when a long while ago Gustav handed me a single cd of this track on the steps outside ULU after they supported
We Are The Ocean). The song I’m talking about is ‘In The Night’. This gives everyone a last chance to jump around and enjoy themselves for a few more minutes. Such a great end to the show!
While their set was very short, it was also very strong, and it really hit me how far
Young Guns have come in the last year. Undoubtedly the best live performance I have seen from them, I am left with a renewed appreciation for them and I see
Young Guns following the same success story as fellow Brits
You Me At Six have enjoyed.
Hey everyone, Jodi here. I'm sure everyone already knows about this, but a great band named I Am Ghost split up recently so I wanted to make a post about them. If you have met them you will know how nice they are and they will be missed by a lot of people. I'm glad I got to photograph them when I had the chance, everyone should go and check the photos out on my flickr of their last tour in the UK. 
