Fashionably late as I was from the treacherous weather from the finest city in the Midlands, I annoyingly missed the first act Same Streets. From what I heard from outside, they sounded alright I guess, like any other guitar band: creating good music but failing to lack originality. I walked into a barely filled venue. Listeners had obviously done their research as what was to come was.. interesting to say the least. I took the opportunity to get right to the front of the stage to avoid the predicable mosh pits which would come later.
Dune Rats were the second support act, all the way from down-under Australia. I guess their music itself was thoroughly entertaining, with the bassist rolling all over the stage with enthusiasm, but alongside all the apparent fun, the awkward humour and the occasional spits into the crowd and on each other made it just a bit weird. But at the end of the day, they’re up on stage supporting one of the best rock bands of our generation, whist we are standing watching them utilise their talent – better than us onlookers. As they trampled off the stage, jean shorts and all, we waited gripping the barrier at the front as the venue started to fill up.
By 8.30 the room fell to darkness and silence as the jeers from Billy, Charlotte and Josh came and broke it. The guitar started rolling with great gusto as Charlotte started strumming her delicate fingers and shaking her epic pink hair to the all familiar ‘We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time’ as the crowd screamed along to every lyric. The energy from the band and the audience was somewhat thrilling. One thing I love about The Subways, is how they do not fail to entertain and keep the fans entertained. Between most songs, Billy thanked us all graciously, and told us hilarious stories about their past tours and fun memories along the way of creating their new self-titled album. Earlier on in March I had interviewed Charlotte, which gave me an idea of what to be expecting from this gig.
They went on to play some material from their newly released album, after all they were touring to promote it: tracks like ‘Dirty Muddy Paws’, ‘My Heart is Pumping to a Brand New Beat’ and ‘Taking All The Blame’ were all highlights which got the crowd going. At one point a lad from the audience shouted at Billy to crowdsurf to which he responded and hi-5ed him. It’s always something special seeing a band connect with their trusty followers. Through the set went through classics like ‘Rock & Roll Queen’, ‘With You’, ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ up until ‘Oh Yeah’, when all our dreams came true as Billy handed his guitar to one of his masterful men, leapt to the back of the stage then dived into the eager crowd as Charlotte carried on prancing about the stage with her beautiful bass. I felt like a teenage girl as I jumped to touch his elbow.
As the thrill levels soared, the night started coming to an end. Billy started talking to us about how they hate coming back after they’ve left, and he just screamed “ARE YOU READY TO PARTY NOTTINGHAM?!” We all knew which song that was a cue for. Thank you The Subways for rocking up my weekend.
By Gabriella Ahmed
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