Live Review
Peace
Digital, Newcastle upon Tyne
December 1 2013
Words & Photos: Laura Hague
Birmingham-based indie band Peace have recently been touring the UK with their highly successful debut album ' In Love', and when they pitch up to played Newcastle's Digital along with support from Drenge, expectations are high.
Drenge began the night with a quite a long set, playing all of the well-known songs off their self-titled debut album. Although the atmosphere in the crowd during the two brothers' performance wasn't electric at first, during 'Fuckabout' most people had begun to find their voices, singing along to the heavy chorus and during their last song, 'Face Like a Skull', they had resorted to jumping around as if Drenge were the headlining act of the night.
After Drenge's set, I, and everyone else around me, felt more anticipation for Peace. At this point I was at the barrier in front of a tiny stage, watching technicians set up the band's extremely cool 'Peace' sign shaped lights. After waiting for what seemed like hours, they eventually appear and confidently and head into 'Waste of Paint' - one of the lesser-known songs from 'In Love'. 'Follow Baby' was next, sending the crowd crazy over the raw guitar riffs and infectious lyrics; which was pretty much the order of the night as they ran through 'Higher Than the Sun', 'Drain', and one of the slower songs off the overall upbeat album, 'Float Forever'.
During the performance, Harrison Koisser, the band's vocalist, relished the crowd interaction as he held court from the stage. At one point someone threw their denim jacket onstage, picking it up, Koisser then duly donned the item and proceeded to wear it for the remainder of the night, saying he would trade with its owner later. With the atmosphere continuing to rise, the psychedelic sound of 'Lovesick' then gave way to the debut of a new song, 'Money'. After 'Toxic' and 'Sugarstone', the almost eerie sound of 'Wraith' kicked in and audience enjoyment levels reaching a crescendo. People sitting on their friends' shoulders, shouting the band members' names, desperate for a bit of attention off undoubtedly one of the best bands of the year. One of my personal favourites was '1998'. The song - which lasts a lengthy ten minutes - was for the crowd, basically just ten minutes of dancing and jumping around like lunatics, while the band embraced the wonderful atmosphere. As Peace left the stage everyone at the barrier reached their hands out, hoping for an opportunity to say that they had been touched by a member of Peace.
'California Daze', the favourite with many Peace fans, was the first song to be played in the encore. Although it isn't the most upbeat song from 'In Love', it's in keeping with the positive, chilled vibes that can be seen throughout the album. I'm pretty sure everyone felt quite emotional at that point - well at least I was. And things were about to get even better when Koisser asked, "It's the 1st of December, isn't it?" Everyone knew what was coming. A few days prior to the gig Peace had uploaded a video of them doing a cover of Wham!'s 'Last Christmas'. It wasn't on the setlist, but Koisser said that they'd "give it a bash", and despite getting the lyrics to the song wrong, it was definitely a highlight of the night.
Arguably the band's most well-known song 'Bloodshake' concluded what was an excellent live performance by one of the best bands of 2013. The atmosphere remained incredible throughout the song and the band left the stage smiling and high-fiving the superfans at the barrier. Peace are not only great performers, but with Koisser interacting with the crowd as he does, makes them an entertaining band to watch too. Judging by their performance in Newcastle, I would class them as one of the best live acts of 2013.
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