This Wednesday night starts off on the right foot with Dude, My Dude & Eli Smart preparing us with some classic indie pop. Eli seems to have more of a rockier edge and alternates between giving both ‘The Feeling‘ & ‘The Beatles‘ vibes with a little of their own personality thrown in too. The o2 Institute couldn’t have put on two more different acts for tonight with Vukovi playing room 2 but Cassia have still pulled a decent crowd and sold out room 3 but this does mean that they are on slightly later than expected. Skeletons by Easy Life plays between tonights act and seems to be the final warm up needed for this diverse crowd. 9:30 hits and our main act casually hit the stage.
Our second song of the night proves that this lot are here for a good time and that there is lots of noise to be made this evening, filling in for front man Rob Ellis if he ever misses a line and somehow being louder than the band themselves a lot of the time. It’s a small stage but a reasonable sized room and the production value of the show is not to be sniffed at; pivoting, light changing lights placed at the front of the stage help bring that feeling of a bigger show. One thing is made very clear very quickly, Cassia have come to get this job done. Whilst they’ve clearly put the effort into this show, there are no unnecessary frills – just good music & good vibes.
Cassia‘s latest single ‘Slow‘ quickly becomes a crowd favourite as the words “if we’re half way similar” echo round the room from smiling faces. As the night moves forward, Rob gets more confident and interacts with the crowd a bit more between songs which shows us all just how humble this band are. They’re very happy to be here and they’re making a hell of a noise for a 3 piece band. Mentions of their brand new album ‘Why You Lacking Energy?‘ provokes cheers from this bunch of gig goers though it’s surprising to hear those cheers die out for the next song on this setlist, ‘Boundless‘. Everyone is definitely dancing to the beat of their own drum tonight, only joined together by the one slow song of the setlist which gets all hands in the air (lighter included).
Personally, I thought ‘16-18 – Why You Lacking Energy?‘ would’ve been up there as one of the loudest songs of the night but it was strangely quiet. It almost felt as though the crowd had lost momentum at this point though I’m quickly proved wrong by ‘Ordinary People‘ & ‘100 Times Over‘; they’ve got some energy left in them yet.
Cassia manage to leave the room buzzing and I think everyone could’ve carried on given half the chance given the performance these guys put on.
