Tonight is a celebration in more ways than one. Selling out The Borderline in 36 seconds, Against The Current’s return to this 300 capacity venue is symbolic of their rise through the ranks since their UK debut in 2014 – it’s also vocalist Chrissy Costanza’s birthday gig. Balloons float haphazardly above the crowd who are packed into the tiny Soho venue and ready to hear some of the best pop-rock music being released currently.
Opening up the nights proceedings is SAINTE, Tay Jardine’s (formerly of We Are The In Crowd) new solo project. Smashing through her recently released EP ‘smile, and wave’ and declaring “to be fair, that’s all the songs we have” when the crowd express disappointment at the end of the set, the performance is a whirlwind. Clearly giddy at being back on stage again, the tracks fizz with energy and excitement at what’s been created, with the crowd throwing that energy right back at her.
If SAINTE warmed the crowd up, Against The Current set the room on fire from the minute they step on stage. Opening with ‘Running With The Wild Things’, there is immediate crowd-surfing before the chorus even hits, and the energy continues throughout their set. With some of their biggest fans packed into such a small venue, the general feeling of the night is one of pride at seeing what Against The Current have done in their short years as a band.
Repeatedly thanking fans for sticking with them over the years and reminiscing on their first London headliner at The Borderline in 2014, it seems fitting that the band go back to playing some of their older cuts for this show. ‘Paralyzed’ roars as loudly as it ever has, whilst ‘Talk’, which Chrissy states is one of her favourites to play live, swaggers with pent up ferocity.
Making sure not to skip over some of their slower tunes and making a point to warn the crowd things will be getting moody, ‘Chasing Ghosts’ is performed with extra cheesy drum fills and vocal delays this time around. It’s a nice addition to the set and allows the bands songwriting and performance abilities to shine through on a less high octane track, bringing a nice change of pace to the set. From this point onwards the set lulls overall, with the more understated ‘Roses’, ‘Dreaming Alone’, ‘Brighter’, ‘Wasteland and In Our Bones,’ all making appearances.
Closing out after an encore with possibly their biggest song to date ‘Gravity’, Against The Current have once again proven why they’re one of the most exciting pop rock bands out there at the moment.