If you’re familiar with the emo/melodic-hardcore scene, you will know much of a ruckus Hindsights have been causing since the recent release of their full-length in ‘Cold Walls/Cloudy Eyes’. And if you’re familiar with Hindsights, then you will know they are Berkshire-based, therefore this special hometown show was shaping up to be, well, special. The souped up support bill consisted of Kid Brother, Brightr and Prawn.
You would think that due to it being a hometown show, a small venue for the band, a support lineup that was kept secret until only a few days before the show and the fact that its Reading’s first emo/melodic-hardcore gig in a while, that it would be filled with eager fans just waiting to climb each other’s heads, but that was not the case yet. Despite the sparse crowd/collection of people, Kid Brother were up first to wet our rock appetites, and they did just that. Being a newly formed band that hasn’t played too many shows, naturally there was next to no sing-a-longs, nor general crowd participation. That being said, those watching did seem to enjoy their sound and appreciate them giving it all. With refinement, more shows and more material, it will be interesting to see how much they will grow. They have the sound/groundwork of a band that could get far in their genre one day.
Next up was Brightr – despite him being the only acoustic artist on the bill, in no way was it boring or uninteresting compared to some acoustic supports on shows. Yes it was chilled, and yes it was relaxed, but the performance still contained emotion and heart-felt meaning that was clearly felt as Brightr drew a bigger crowd. Although it was laid-back and intimate, he provided back-stories to some of the songs that seemed to hit a few audience members, even when it was a not-so-serious set. The song that stood out to me was ‘We’ – a song of which the video was released for recently, but the overall performance was catchy, pleasant and something that was unexpected from an artist second on to a fairly small show. Definitely worth getting in to.
Prawn were up next, stepping down to instead support Hindsights for this show hometown show and they certainly lived up to expectations. Their set consisted a mixture of high and low tempo songs that were not only incredible to see live, but created an atmosphere that hadn’t been felt yet until then. The only downfall about this being a Hindsights headliner was that naturally there were fewer audience members strictly there for Prawn, thus causing very little crowd participation or singing along in general, but that did not belittle the impact that their most known songs such as ‘Scud Running’ and ‘Donald Domesky’ had on the audience of which were excited and focused at this point. The entirety of their set left us wondering why they don’t receive more recognition than they currently get within the UK, but that will change I can almost guarantee it.
After three truly intriguing sets, it was finally Hindsights’ turn to hit the stage. Opening with ‘Everything Inside Me Echoed’ – a rarity to see live – the crowd instantly came closer and livened up, with even stage dives/crowd surfing emerging. With the release of ‘Cold Walls/Cloudy Eyes’ being so critically praised, it was no surprise that the majority of their set consisted of songs from it, however they did include some songs from previous material such as ‘Heavy Head’ and ‘Daydreams’. The whole performance from the band was energetic, yet concealed in a way that proved they can be professional and passionate at the same time. One of the best things about the band are how diverse they are and how they have taken different factors from the genre they fall upon and others to create a good variety of songs/styles, but it really shows in their performance as they can go from fast-paced, lively songs to a slower one which feels just as heartfelt and exciting. ‘Pensive’ proved to be the standout, containing the correct balance between individualism and parts which are easier to sing along to -projected to the crowd, proven by the immense level of crowd reaction.
Despite Hindsights being a band that has only recently emerged, judging by this performance, it won’t be long before these are one of the most sought-after faces in UK emo/melodic hardcore, and something makes me think I am not the only one that believes this.