It was Friday night and the end of a busy week for most people, but the time was finally here for Nothing But Thieves’ long awaited, sold out gig at Rock City. They were supported by July Talk, who came all the way from Canada, and Darlia from the slightly closer Blackpool, so it was sure to be an enjoyable evening.
First on were July Talk, a five-piece alternative rock band from Toronto, Canada. Having been told about the band during the taxi ride to Rock City, I was interested to see what they were like, especially as they had been described as slightly crazy with singer Peter Driemanis as “the big bad wolf”. Surprisingly, this was an accurate description, and when this persona was mixed with other singer Leah Fay’s sensual dancing, it made it difficult to look away. Peter’s voice had a Dave Grohl sound to it which didn’t match his appearance at all. It was just unfortunate that Nothing But Thieves’ set had pushed July Talk to the front of the stage as the band would have done a lot better with more room. Despite this, when they finished, the venue was almost full.
Next on were Darlia, who are a four-piece rock band and they ended up playing to a practically full rock city when they came on at 7:30pm. The venue was so full at this point that people were almost hanging off the stairways to get a good view. Darlia’s songs were easy to listen to, not particularly heavy rock with simple and repetitive lines meaning that the crowd could sing along. They played songs such as ‘I’ve Never Been to Ohio’ and ‘Candyman’ and by the end of the set there were already people on shoulders and mosh-pits forming in multiple places on the dancefloor. Unfortunately, again, the Nothing But Thieves’ set meant that Darlia were pushed to the front of the stage but they still did well with the space that they had.
At just after 8:30pm, the lights dimmed, the background music stopped, and it was time for Nothing But Thieves to start playing. Lead singer Conor Mason led the band on stage to an explosion of cheering and screaming. Dressed in a baggy grey sweatshirt and what looked almost like sweatpants, it made a refreshing change from the usual black skinny jeans and too tight t-shirts worn by most indie rock bands these days. The crowd was absolutely electric, with mosh pits throughout the whole performance, except from a short interlude where Conor was left alone on stage with his acoustic guitar and did a cover of ‘Free Falling’ followed by ‘Hell, Yeah’ which actually didn’t seem the go down that well with the crowd- maybe it was slightly too slow? The pace soon picked up again and too soon, the five were leaving the stage, although they soon returned to perform an encore consisting of Particles and ended with Amsterdam.
Photo courtesy of Renegade PR
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