Flashfires are a relative new indie-disco band coming from Basingstoke. They’ve just returned from recording their debut album alongside Telsa bassist, Brian Wheat, in the USA which is due for release in early 2014 on Angry Badger Records. With new material to add to their set and a hoard of loyal fans packing the venue we are certainly expecting great things from the quintet on this particular show.
Opening the show was inst
rumental trio Siberian Noise. The group came into a long and suspenseful intro which brought in a lot of attention from the, at this point, sparse crowd. Though there was little variation in their performance the group played with enormous passion and seeing them get lost in their own music as deeply as they did provided a great spectacle. Their biggest strength was certainly their sound, using distortion techniques to generate a very unique and almost psychedelic sound which placed some members of the audience in an unblinking trance-like state providing a good start to tonight’s show.
Following was Sixes and Sevens who delivered a show-stealing performance. Vocalist David Boyd gave a consistently energetic and passionate performance, intertwining music and a little bit of comedy to keep the audience interested. The rest of the band, though in the background, was equally as enthusiastic showing a great dynamic between the group which the crowd absolutely loved. They played a good varied set of groovy indie songs reminiscent of the more disco-friendly side of the Arctic Monkeys and definitely finished their set with more fans in the crowd then they started with.
The penultimate act Owers gave a good performance with a great selection of songs. Their audience interaction was their strong point, with every remark thrown into the crowd met with an ecstatic response. The drive and effort they put into their show is evident throughout their set and overall, deliver a more mature show with more focus and bring the mood in the room to a perfect level for introducing tonight’s headliners.
Flashfires came onstage to a sheer wall of praise from the audience. They kicked off with an energetic opening set of tracks which had many audience members dancing from the first note. The lead singer Alex Gonzato has a great stage presence and showed true natural skill in controlling an audience and even encouraged a sing-a-long amongst the crowd which many took to with great enthusiasm. The group’s inclusion of a small semi-acoustic set of songs partway through their set was received well and allowed a small moment of calm before concluding their set with a passionate performance.
Photos by Chrissie Hooker
