Live Review :: Spring King + Weirds + Calva Louise :: Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh - Feb 14 2018

Live

Spring King + Weirds + Calva Louise

Sneaky Pete's, Edinburgh

February 14 2018

Words/Pictures: Richard Cobb

“Who’s here on a date tonight then? I wore my red shirt especially,” Spring King's drummer/singer Tarek Musa jokes. The love-In didn’t end there - there was a real connection between the Macclesfield band and the sold out Edinburgh crowd who were making the most of an intimate gig with one of their favourite bands on Valentine’s Day in the capital.

Prior to the Cupid’s arrow in the shape of Spring King landing on the stage, Calva Louise warmed up the crowd with a frantic 20-minute celebration of noise. Earlier this year I’d compared the band to The Big Moon, but live they’re more like The Kills meets early Yeah Yeah Yeahs with Eagles of Death Metal riffs alongside their high energy and stage presence. They’re back at the same venue next month as part of a This Feeling presents show, so it would be good to see them headline to see how it compares with their promising opening slot tonight.

Weirds were up next and there was clearly an audience in tonight specifically to see them as they gravitated to the front and didn’t appear to miss a single beat the band threw at them. With suitably weird shoutouts to local towns Haddington and Drem, the band went down well with the crowd even if genre-wise they were chalk and cheese to the more accessible headliners, with their anger-fuelled heavy guitar and keys driven sound.

Bounding onto the stage to the sound caffeine that is 'Come On!' by The Hives, the breakneck pace of alt-rock post-punks Spring King didn’t let up for the hour they are on stage, bursting through 'Detroit', 'It's So Dark' and 'Demons', like the latter song's title. There’s definitely a working ingredient to their signature style, but there’s enough in the songs like 'Tell Me If You Like To' and 'Animal' to keep them interesting and ensure the crowd have plenty to be cheerful about. New song ‘Ready For War’ - which may feature on a new album later this year - was well received and an early  highlight of the set.

Ending with what is still easily their best song, ‘Rectifier’, which sparked off a mosh pit which grew arms and legs and turned into a stage invasion, the band proved that their passion is still there and if they can replicate a similar raw urgency of that track on a new album this year, the band should have no problems adding to their loyal and at times chaotic fan base.