Credit: Sonja JD
Live
Blossoms
Lafayette, London
March 5 2020
Words: Richard Cobb
"It’s National Book Week. My Mum’s a teacher and went to school dressed as a spider or something. Actually, she’s more of a teaching assistant." In two sentences Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden has already exhumed more chat here on stage in London as part of Annie Mac's AMP Presents, than he did for the entirety of the band’s Liquid Rooms show in Edinburgh back in 2016.
The one slight criticism from the first two album tours was the band seemed somewhat static in performance and at times it almost felt, aside from the ever animated Joe Donovan on drums, like they weren’t enjoying themselves onstage. Fast-forward four years and two days from the first time I caught them in Edinburgh and the transformation in Blossoms' live show has been nothing short of astronomical.
With the sound bolstered by an extra guitar and a well-oiled percussion section throughout, Ogden is no longer imprisoned behind his Rickenbacker for the duration. The majority of the 19 song set is spent lassoing the microphone cable, bashing away at the keyboard at leisure, or swinging off the mic-stand like a cross between Alex Turner and Joey Ramone.
Credit: Richard Cobb
Credit: Richard Cobb
‘Your Girlfriend’ sends the sold-out crowd at London’s newest boutique venue Lafayette, nestled behind King's Cross station, into an instant pop-fuelled high. Not taking their foot off the gas, it’s followed up with tight and emphatic renditions of ‘There’s A Reason Why’ and ‘I Cant Stand it.’ It’s worth remembering just how much of a coup it is seeing a band of their stature in such a confined space like this. You get the feeling with their stock ever rising, the chances of seeing Stockport’s finest in a 600 capacity again any time soon are pretty slim.
The latter half of the set draws heavily on material from the band’s recent Number 1 album ‘Foolish Loving Spaces’, but given the reaction songs like ‘The Keeper’, ‘Romance, Eh?’ and ‘If You Think This Is Real Life’ get, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d been on the setlist for years.
Musically the band are on another level tonight. ‘Like Gravity’ an already decent tune gets some extra leg room at the end for the band to experiment with, further cementing Blossoms as a band at the very top of their game. Bowing out with ‘Charlemagne’, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this band will be headlining major festivals next year thanks to their infectious pop anthems and new found shimmering live show.
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