In my regular 'upcoming Gig emails' I saw that The Hoosiers were playing at the Boilerroom in Guildford, where I'd seen Ben Watt play early in the year.
As it's tiny venue, I couldn't see how a full band could actually fit in, but some investigation confirmed that, yes, it was THE Hoosiers (And not just one of them!) and, yes, they were playing The Boilerroom as part of a small tour to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of their first album, the excellent "The Trick To Life", which was being re-released in a special edition (along with a first time vinyl release, how times change!).
I quickly bought a ticket, but still wondered what this would be like in the cramped venue.
When I arrived a support band were finishing (I recall there were two, but little about them, except that one had a very mannered lead singer who actually seemed to spoil a fairly decent set of musicians. I guess he'd call that charisma!
Eventually, about 9PM, by which time it was already pretty toasty and I'd sunk two pints of Asahi, The Hoosiers appeared on stage (which is really a little alcove at one end of the bar - This was one a pub and the layout isn't really that great for music, if I'm honest!)
They performed the whole of Trick To Life from end to end (as bands are wont to do when celebrating the anniversary of releases.
I must say, they were very good, looking and sounding very like they had in their heyday (not that long ago to be fair) and the songs sounded fresh and energetic,as they had then.
This was a band that both myself and Lauren and Ryan really liked and it was definitely more their age group that made up the audience. One group I spoke to agreed they were surprised to see them playing there, one lad saying "I couldn't believe it, there was my 14 year old self getting to see my favourite band!"
After they finished the tracks from Trick to Life, they played a number of other songs, which I didn't know, but the audience received enthusiastically and seemed very much of a similar style.
They even popped in a cover of "We didn't start the fire" by Billy Joel, which I did recognize!
The place was absolutely packed with 20 somethings (I reckon I was the oldest person there by 15 years, at least!) and it got very, very hot, but everyone seemed to have a good time, although I had to beat a retreat to nearer the bar towards the end to cool off (I found one or two people who'd been standing near me earlier had done the same though!).
A good evening, with a great performance by The Hoosiers, but perhaps they were just a bit too big a draw for the tiny Boileroom?
Setlist:
The Feeling You Get When
Worried About Ray
Worst Case Scenario
Run Rabbit Run
Goodbye Mr A
A Sadness Runs Through Him
Clinging on for Life
Cops and Robbers
Everything Goes Dark
Killer
The Trick to Life
Encore:
The Feeling You Get When
Money to be Made
Somewhere In The Distance
Pristine
I Can't Feel My Face(The Weeknd cover)
We Didn't Start the Fire(Billy Joel cover)
Choices
No comments:
Post a Comment