The crowd was on its feet smiling, singing and clapping along - to a rendition of Happy Birthday in celebration of another year in the life of singer Aaron Starkey.
And that was about as animated as this evening got for fans of Slow Readers Club as, like the birthday cake candles, the gig failed to ignite.
This was a rescheduled outing which was originally penciled in for last November and perhaps that was one reason for the disappointing turnout of only about two hundred people.
On the plus side, it meant that the band played in the original, smaller venue where the low ceiling and stretched layout played to the band’s strengths where a pulsating drumbeat and booming bass are to the fore in many songs.
The set kicked off with Fool for your philosophy from the 2015 album Cavalcade which was warmly received swiftly followed by The Wait and then the first song from the new album in the shape of Animals which echoes the groups early forages into electronica.
Released as a single along with Technofear to promote the eagerly anticipated Out of a Dream album scheduled for release on 14 March Animals was the third song of the evening and a decent tune. However it was the older tunes that resonated more, such as the excellent All I Hear where Starkey, in an act of irony, attempted to persuade the crowd to perform a synchronated stadium wave.
This is more revealing than perhaps intended. For although this Manchester band have been around for more than a decade and have had some top festival appearances and good selling albums, they have failed to make that elusive breakthrough to superstar status. Yes they have good songs, showcased here in The Great Escape and Come Lay Your Troubles on Me from the latest album but no stand out classic that will take them as a band to the next level.
SRC's thirst for such success is almost palatable. Nowhere more so than on their new single Boy so Blue. Close your eyes and it's almost Coldplay, right down to the stained vocals on the higher notes.
This band has built and sustained a dedicated and loving following and rightly so. Their songs are generally good and this gig was an enjoyable night out and the new album deserves to sell well. But I fear they will always just have a nodding acquaintance with the true success they crave.
Like a yo-yoing Championship soccer side with too few Premiership-level players, the lack of real quality songs will prevent promotion to a higher level. SRC are doomed to be the Sunderland AFC of sound.
LIVE REVIEWS
Thursday nights at Heaven don’t often look like this. The London gay club is filled with messy-haired Zoomers wearing baggy jeans and heavy silver chains, who sold out the venue in seconds. They’re here to see 2hollis (real name Hollis Frazier-Herndon), who just last year was booed offstage while supporting Ken Carson on tour. Tonight, however, he gets nothing but adoration.
2hollis first became popular online for making medieval-themed trap and, alongside the likes of Nettspend and fakemink, has been a major influence on fashion and digital culture at large. And though the phrase ‘nepo baby’ has been thrown around (his mother managed Skrillex and founded a successful PR film, while his father is the drummer of American rock band Tortoise), tonight proves 2hollis is a genuine phenomenon with an undeniably organic fanbase.
As the 21-year-old jumps around on stage, his long platinum pigtails bouncing off his bare chest, he looks like a Dragon Age character that went to Central Saint Martins. “I love you, I love you, I love you,” he drawls in Auto-Tune to a rapturous response. It’s the most we hear from him all night, but he doesn’t need to be too talkative when his fans react to his presence by slamming their bodies together and waving his red-and-white branded flags like a call to battle.
In a world post-‘Whole Lotta Red’, kids want to be immersed in a wall of noise to get out of their heads and throw down. But with 2hollis, it’s different. His lyrics, though somewhat cringey, actually have sentiment. ‘Sister’ has the whole crowd singing: “Girl, I love you like a sister / Cross my fingers when I’m with you / Hold back a smile ’til my teeth hurt.” They’re lines that could be lifted from a noughties Bieber album, but backed by Drain Gang beats that propel it into the TikTok age.
In response, the crowd gives each song the big hitter treatment: every word is cried back at blistering volume, there’s no break in the moshing, and there’s never a moment to pop out for a quick ciggy (everyone’s vaping anyway).
Standouts include the sugary sweet ‘Crush’, which has an 80 per cent male crowd singing sweetly while smacking into each other; ‘Afraid’, with an appearance from support act and childhood friend Nate Sib (who had the crowd riled up nicely from his earlier set); and ‘Jeans’ – which goes down so well that he does it four times.
Though it does feel like 2hollis didn’t quite have control of the crowd to start, sheer excitement has them jumping incessantly to the first few songs that it almost doesn’t matter what he was playing. By the end, he manages to wrangle them into place. He reminds them to give each other space, perches on the side of the stage for slower moments like a real teenage pop star and even gets right up against the barrier for the final rendition of ‘Jeans’ before finally declaring: “That’s it!” After doing three encores, he needn’t say much else.
‘Gold’
‘Say It Again’
‘FORFEIT’
‘Trauma’
‘Poster Boy’
‘Sister’
‘Need That’
‘Lie’
‘Two Bad’
‘Crush’
‘GOD (Live Edit)’
‘Style’
‘Whiplash’
‘Cliche’
‘Afraid (With Nate Sib)’
‘Light’
‘Ouu (Alongside Rommulas)’
‘Jeans’
‘Jeans’
‘Jeans’
‘Jeans’
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