Tuesday night and a trip to the iconic Leadmill for what promised to be a fantastic evening.
First up was El Ray hailing from Manchester but very obviously originally from Ireland (can’t fake that accent!), performing a solo acoustic set of his latest tracks. El Ray has a distinctive voice and judging by the crowd reaction has built up a decent fan base. Featuring on tour promoter This Feelings ‘Big in 2022’ roster, I predict big things ahead. Great songs and friendly audience banter, a great way to open the night.
As the crowd started to swell, Hull-based band Fever took to the stage. A great set of catchy self-penned Indie Rock tunes followed. Unfortunately, a member of the audience fainted, causing an un-planned halt to the set, all was well however and the band carried on to the relief of the Leadmill crowd. Great musicians and charismatic frontman in James Howard definitely a band to watch this year.
So onto Red Rum Club, I have to mention at this point that I don’t think I have seen a crowd this big on a Tuesday night, the venue was pretty much sold out and the anticipation in the air was obvious as we waited for the band to take to the stage. What struck me most was the age range of the crowd, teenagers to 50+ and beyond, an obvious testament to the band’s broad musical appeal.
Bursting onto the stage with Kids Addicted the lads took us through a fantastic set, featuring songs from all of their recent albums. Highlights for me were Come Back Anna Marie and Matador, the latter of which lead singer Fran pointed out was a brave choice for the band, that said they made the right one, what a great tune.
Several mosh pits formed during this high energy performance much to my surprise! It was great to see though and probably describes best how electric the atmosphere was for the entire set.
Finishing with Love Me Like You Wanna Be Loved the crowd sang and clapped along to the end cheering for more. Not wanting to disappoint the band returned to an encore of Vibrate, Eleanor and the now-iconic Would You Rather be Lonely.
Red Rum Club go from strength to strength, fresh from an American Tour they were on top of their game tonight, polished, tight and well-rehearsed. More importantly, you could tell they were really enjoying it all.
If you haven’t seen Red Rum Club, you are seriously missing out and judging by the ever-increasing ticket sales the lads are enjoying, (tonight was main stage), bigger venues and success are in the pipeline for sure.
A brilliant night of entertainment all round, for which everyone concerned should be congratulated.
