Just a day after releasing their first full-length feature, Eternity, In Your Arms, Creeper set off on a UK tour bringing pop-punk bands Puppy, Energy and Milk Teeth. RAMzine headed down to the sold out show at Southampton’s The 1865 last week to check them out.
First to take the stage were Puppy. They kicked the night off early and still managed to pull a decent sized crowd, packing out just over half of the venue. They got a great crowd reaction and set a high standard for the rest of the pop-punk filled evening.
American band Energy then took to the stage and for a band who have never toured the UK, got a great reception. Their set called for another series of circle pits and there was a great energy in the room (no pun intended). Energy brought one of the best moments to the night at the end of their set when vocalist, Jason Tankerley called his girlfriend on stage to propose. The noises coming from the crowd were a mix of aww’s and cheering for what was a special moment.
By the time Milk Teeth came on, the venue was fully packed out and you could tell by the singalongs that there were a lot of Milk Teeth fans in the crowd. Following the theme of the night, Milk Teeth encouraged more circle pits and the crowd loved it. I think that the fact there were so many Milk Teeth fans there, shows that this is definitely a band to watch out for in 2017.
One thing to be said about Creeper’s performance is that it was obviously a hometown show. The whole venue was filled with people wearing their signature Callous Heart logo and you could tell that Creeper hasn’t just created an ordinary fan base, but the Creeper Cult. Opening with ‘Black Rain’ and following straight into ‘Poison Pens’; it could have been a bit risky by opening with two new songs but the crowd loved it. Most of them knew the words to all of the songs and it showed just how much of an impact Creeper have on their fans. When it came to ‘Crickets’ where Hannah (Greenwood, Keyboard and Vocals) took the lead on vocals, it created a very special moment because the song is like no other for this band, it was completely stripped back. One thing I really enjoyed about the night is that even though they’d only released E, IYA a week earlier, the setlist was a great mix. They played songs such as ‘VCR’ and ‘We Had A Pact’, from their earliest EP, Creeper, which shows that no matter where this band are going, they’re sticking to their roots that’s important for bands now.
By the time they got to ‘Astral Projection’, the band set a challenge of how many crowd surfers could they get during one song, and Southampton definitely rose to the challenge. For the entirety of the song, there was just a sea of people on top of the crowd, toppling over the barriers and the band were loving it. Creeper are definitely a band who thrive of crowd involvement but this puts such great energy into their shows. For the most part, the crowds singing was louder than Will (Gould, Vocalist). Especially when it came to closing song ‘Misery’, Gould stood back and let the crowd sing a majority of the song. The crowd were so loud that there was almost no absence of his voice and it created an emotional end to a great evening.
