It seems that every time LOWER THAN ATLANTIS have a headline
tour, I always miss it. Not this time. With their new album, Safe In Sound being a
huge hit with fans, new and old, I couldn’t wait to hear them live at the Leeds
O2 Academy.
I arrived at the venue in time for HANDS LIKE HOUSES, a band
that I haven’t be able to stop listening to recently so I was excited to see
what the Australian rock band had to offer. After releasing Dissonants last
year, the album has really taken this band to another level. Unfortunately the
vocals were pretty quiet but what I heard was fantastic, complete with the rest
of the band and the energy and heaviness that came from the stage and also from
the fans. I’m just a bit gutted that the sound wasn’t right for these guys. Despite
this I still managed to listen and sing along to tracks such as ‘I Am’, ‘New
Romantics',‘Colourblind’ and more. I certainly think that big things
lie ahead for these guys and I’m already anticipating their return to the UK.
Next up were YOUNG GUNS, a band that when I think about it,
have been around for what seems like forever. Personally they’re not my cup of
tea BUT, I cannot fault their performance on the stage. Literally the only tracks I knew were ‘Weight
of the World’ and ‘Bones’ so I sang away to those. The rest of the crowd were
well and truly going for it though, singing their hearts out from the opener of
‘Mad World’ through to ‘I Want Out’, eight tracks later. The sound was much
better for Young Guns and their set had warmed everyone up for the main event,
LOWER THAN ATLANTIS.
Opening their set with ‘Had Enough’ before moving into ‘Dumb’,
the crowd were instantly involved with a lot of movement in the centre of the
floor. To start with I enjoyed the view from the right hand side of the stage
before Dom dragged me into the middle – the first time I’ve been that close to
a stage in a while (I’m getting old and lazy).
As well as playing some of their latest tracks, Lower Than
Atlantis also went back to 2011s World Record playing one of my personal
favourites, ‘Beech Like The Tree’. The set was also quite heavily dominated
with tracks from 2014s self-titled album including ‘Emily’, ‘Ain’t No Friend’, ‘Stays
The Same’ (which is my favourite track off that album and had everyone dancing
and singing away),
‘Criminal’ and ‘Words Don’t Come So Easily’. Surprisingly
there was nothing from 2012s Changing Tune. From the latest album, ‘Could Be
Worse’, ‘Work For It’ and ‘Boomerang’ were performed as well as ‘Get Over It’ (which
has had a lot of Radio One airtime) from 2015s Black Edition of the self-titled
album from the previous year.
The show itself was a typical rock show, with pits, dancing,
singing and the standard chants of “Yoooooooorkshirrrrrrrrrre” – something which
every band that visits gets involved with, even if they think everyone is
singing “you’re shit”…we’re not, don’t worry.
As per the norm, the band returned back on the stage at the
end of their set to perform a three track encore which included ‘Another Sad
Song’ to which I was at the front of the stage, swaying away with Dom whilst
trying not to cry. The remaining two tracks were ‘English Kids In America’ and ‘Here
We Go’.
The band remained on stage and acknowledged the fans,
throwing out guitar plectrums out in the crowd – and guess who caught one?! I
say caught, I was wearing a beanie, felt something hit my head and while
everyone scrambled to the floor I found it perch under the fold. Lucky me.
The only disappointment with this band is that they have
fallen into the shit hole of charging fans extra for a pre-show meet and greet.
As always, I stand by the fact that the fans help the bands get to where they
are. We buy the music, the merch, the gig tickets and everything else in
between but hey ho, some people pay it. Unfortunately I’m not falling for it.
Ahh well.
Overall I was really impressed with LTA both musically and
just the experience. I’d heard mixed opinions prior to this show but I was
proved wrong to what I had heard because I thought they were fantastic.
Have you seen any of these guys live? What are your favourite tracks? You can check out the bands below:
LOWER THAN ATLANTIS
YOUNG GUNS
HANDS LIKE HOUSES
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