Darlia – Leadmill, Sheffield, 24 January 2014.
Thankfully, the highly amusing if somewhat, over enthusiastic member of the audience that had entertained us, whilst distracting support act LSA, had crashed, burned and left the building well before Dick Dale’s Misirlou came over the PA, as we welcomed Darlia to the stage.
Right from the onset it was clear that these guys were here to entertain. The Blackpool trio have been hailed as “The most exciting guitar band in the UK”.They are loud, full of pace and delivered a set that easily backs up the grand claims made in the music press.
Despite a slight blip, attributed to the rather overzealous light show and the ensuing temporary blindness, drummer, Jack Bentham provides a solid back beat to the boys up front.
Lead singer and guitarist Nathan Day, is a master of his craft. As equally at home with his full frontal guitar assault as he is with his vocals. He looks the part and easily makes the stage his own.
While to his left Dave Williams slams his bass to finish off a sound that hints at a number of great influences old and new. There’s a touch of grunge, a hint of Brit Pop, all coming together to create a noise that is Friday night entertainment in its purest form.
It’s a short, but very sharp set, consisting of eight numbers. The tracks from the bands Knock Knock EP, are the stand out numbers and have the crowd singing, and dancing along.
For my money the best of the lot was Napalm, it’s catching refrain running round your mind well into the night.
All in all a great gig, let down by the lack of numbers who turned out to witness it. For those that did, spread the word, let people know what they missed. Darlia are going to be big. With a few more gigs and a few more numbers it’s quite easy to imagine them becoming a festival favourite, if not forerunner.
