London is rather busy tonight, with The Hives playing an intimate show at The Borderline, Simple Plan indulging the masses in a spot of nostalgia at The Forum and Such Gold playing at the Barfly it was inevitable that, while the three don’t exactly cross paths in genre, they would split crowds, and unfortunately it seemed as if the attendance for Such Gold tonight was the one to suffer. The venue was by no means empty, but it certainly didn’t feel as busy as it should have been.
Due to an unfortunate series of events, we missed The Slow Year this evening, but every time we’ve seen them they’ve been great, so make sure you head down to early to a show that they’re on to catch a band with big things ahead of them.
Up first for us tonight then were Apologies, I Have None, on the back of the release of their excellent debut album, ‘London’. Due to that, t’s no surprise that their entire, 30 minute strong set consisted entirely of songs from the record, and in a live environment the four piece really do know how to turn it on. The band are loud, full of intensity and an incredibly tight unit. That said, the set list could do with a tweak or two, as ‘Clapton Pond’ – despite being a great track – doesn’t quite seem to be the perfect closer. Either way – the band seem to be getting stick on our forums for being on lots of support slots, so you can be sure they’re bound to have a great year if they keep on the way the are.
As Such Gold took to the stage, the barfly had filled out as much as it was going to. A dedicated few down at the front were doing the best to provide an atmosphere, and what followed was a set that had a sometimes vibe killing mix of the old and new. Opening things up with a winning combo of ‘You Always Know What’s Best’ and ‘Gutrot’ got the crowd going brilliantly, and considering the fact the band had a couple of fill ins, the musicianship was pretty spot on. However, as the set went on the band seemed to employ a “two old songs, two unheard brand new album tracks” approach, which did have an adverse effect on the momentum of the entire show, The band are clearly proud of what they’ve written for the new record and none of it sounded bad at all, but the lack of crowd involvement due to not knowing the songs yet did subdue the atmosphere quite heavily at times. Despite that, when the more well-known songs of the set got an airing, it was everything a Such Gold show should be; raucous, intense and brilliant.
CHRIS MARSHMAN