The Enemy and The Subways bring their joint headline tour ‘Indie Till I Die’ to the o2 Academy Birmingham.
Having had to cancel the previous date for this show due to illness, The co-headlined tour finally rolled into Birmingham, sadly we had to lose The Holloways from the line up, but they were more than effectively replaced by upcoming Coventry band Candid.
Having followed these guys career for a number of years, from the smallest venues in Birmingham, to now playing the main stage at the o2 Academy, not only in Birmingham but also London’s Brixton Academy its a testament the hard work these guys have put in.
The occasion isn’t lost on the band either, who take time out of their set to thank the fans and The Enemy for allowing them this platform to play in front of such a large crowd.
Keep an eye on Candid, they have the motivation and songs to go far!
Next up was the superb The Subways. Greeted with cheers from the packed room, they went straight into ‘Oh Yeah’ from debut album ‘Young For Eternity” Which still sounds quality after all these years, having celebrated the 20th anniversary of that album a few years ago.
The band give it all in their performances, Billy is rarely two footed on the ground, Charlotte is bouncing from each side of the stage, while drummer Camille smashes the kit.
A solid 14 track setlist rounded off with the bands most known track – ‘Rock and Roll Queen’ which was recently covered by The Enemy in conjunction with ‘World Mental Health Day’ and ‘World Homeless Day’ with The Subways returning the favour and covering, The Enemies hit ‘We’ll Live and Die In These Towns’
The atmosphere in the o2 Academy was now at fever pitch, and with duelling football chants between Coventry and Birmingham fans, it was long before the pints were being thrown and crowd surfers were flying into the pit, as The Enemy kicked off their set with ‘Aggro’ following a long entrance to The Who’s ‘Baba O’Rily’
It’s been many years since I’ve seen The Enemy as the original line up and its great to see the energy Andy on bass brings as he struts the stage and fires up the crowd to get more and more into the tunes.
Its hard to argue that the debut album from The Enemy isn’t up on there with one of the hottest debut albums of all time, and the songs from that album still hold up by todays standards, and the crowd just love singing along, especially to pop culture reference ‘Stay at home with Richard and Judy’
The crowd were so into this show, I don’t think I’ve seen so many people surfing and on shoulders at a gig for a very long time, it goes to show that quite a lot of are indeed ‘Indie till we die’
