Monday’s are pretty rubbish. It’s the end of glorious weekends and the beginning of yet another working week, which isn’t fun. why else would there be #MondayMotivation on Twitter every week? But there are two silver linings on this disgustingly hot evening: 1) Boston Music Rooms has air-conditioning and 2) it’s playing host to Normandie’s first ever London show.
wars are the lucky contenders to open up this show and they do so with finesse. Powerful and visceral, they effortlessly command the attention of those in the room with an arsenal of passionate riffs and intense drum work. Add in frontman Rob Vicar’s flawless vocals and you have a young band that should (and hopefully will) go very far.
Breathe In the Silence are, whilst good and enjoyable, almost unsure of where their sound should lie. They appear to be aiming at a popular radio rock band like Young Guns and Mallory Knox, but the added abrasive screams don’t fit very well into their set-up. Nevertheless, they still get people fired up for what’s to come for the rest of the night.
Croydon’s Bad Sign are always a thrilling band to see and tonight’s no exception. They blast through raw and gritty tracks, including ‘Father’ and ‘Closure’, bringing with them a bold and dynamic output. They’re an abrasive, rough n’ ready bunch – if tonight is anything to go by, then their future looks rosy indeed.
For their first ever UK tour – or indeed UK show, as tonight is night one of their tour – Sweden’s Normandie have drawn a hearty crowd. Their debut album is staggering, matched by a production which gives glimpses of arena-sized anthems, reminiscent of Bring Me the Horizon and 30 Seconds to Mars, topped with huge, melodic vocals that wouldn’t look out of place on daytime radio.
However, from the off, they struggle with technical difficulties – frontman Philip Strand exits the stage a few times and seems to become frustrated with his in-ear, whilst his microphone keeps cutting out for their first couple of songs. They do put their all into it and it pays off at points such as when ‘Collide’ twists and turns through a plethora of melodies and beautiful harmonies. It’s at these moments they show what they can achieve. It’s just a shame that tonight is a struggle for Normandie though, but who said that the first show of tour ever ran smoothly?
JESS TAGLIANI