Live Review - The Lovely Eggs/ Violet Malice/ Loose Articles - XOYO, Birmingham 27.05.24

Lancaster’s finest The Lovely Eggs brought their ‘Eggsistentialism’ tour to Birmingham on Bank Holiday Monday for an evening of punk, spoken word poetry and sing-a-long fun.

Up first were Manchester 4 all female four piece ‘Loose Articles’ Taking to the stage surrounded by a blow up doll dressed in their merchandise and oozing with confidence these girls grabbed the attention of the early gig goers with songs about Bit Coin, and there hatred of buses.

Playing a solid set to the from their back catalogue, lead singer Natalie announced that they were taking pre-orders for their debut album which comes out in July, titled ‘Scream If You Wanna Go Faster’ at the merchandise stand after their set, and I’m sure they got plenty of sign ups.

If you’re going to a The Lovely Eggs show, make sure you get in early to catch these girls, you shouldn’t miss them, and I believe bigger things are on the horizon for them, and as they are due to support Foo Fighters in June in Manchester things certainly seem brighter than lead singer Natalie’s hair for this band.

Following a brief interval the stage was cleared and all that remained were a few books and a microphone until ‘Violet Malice’ entered the stage.

It’s always an interesting change of pace to go from a 4 piece punk band to a spoken word poet, but luckily Violets material was so engaging that you forgot you were at a live music show.

Violets work was really well written and her deliverance was perfect, which kept the audience in awe, laughter and gasps of shock at times.

Some of the highlights from her set included real life messages she had received off Tinder entitled Tinder Bender, Virgin Trains, Meringue Nests and phone tapping in the Royal Family. I won’t go into details here – but if you were there you know exactly what I’m talking about, and some of those images I’m struggling to shake! – Go check her out if your into spoken word comedy poetry!

Next up were headliners The Lovely Eggs entering the stage to opening track from the new album ‘Eggsistentialism’ the married two piece of Dave and Holly took to the stage, which looked amazing with their artwork lit up on the back of the stage and over the drum kit.

It’s hard to believe that The Lovely Eggs have been going for nearly 20 years, but the tightness between them is evident as they play like a well oiled machine switching between old and new songs throughout the set.

Opening with ‘Death Grip Kids’ a raucous rocky track which Holly spits with venom whilst playing the guitar with one leg aloft then rocking out around the stage. Next up was ‘Witchcraft’ from 2018’s ‘This is Eggland’ album. Another rocky track which got the crowds bouncing before slowing things down with single ‘Nothing/ Everything’ from the latest album.

A big fan favourite and really shows the range of this band who came shift from rock to soft melancholic tunes and still keep the audience singing along.

The joy of a Lovely Egg show is like it feels like a house party with friends, the crowd were all singing along to every song whether it be from the latest release or older material such as 2011’s fan favourites ‘Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It)’ and ‘F**k It’ And that is a testament to the band, who have created this whole Egg family and with them at the helm see’s no sign of slowing.

If you’ve not entered the crazy world of The Lovely Eggs yet, give them a listen online or head out to a show on the rest of the tour, you won’t be disappointed.

Setlist: