Reasons to be cheerful
It's getting hard to come up with things to say about Hundred Reasons these days, they are one of the best live bands on the circuit and I've yet to see them do a bad show!
Today they get a big crowd and a huge reaction as they take the stage. Pretty much every song is a winner today, 'I'll Find You', 'What You Get' and 'Kill Your Own' all get the customary crowd sing along and even 'The Perfect Gift', which has never really impressed me before sounds great. Considering it's guitarist Paul Townsend's last appearance with the band before leaving to pursue other interests, the performance is surprisingly more restrained than normal.
The intro to 'Silver' prompts a mass of waving arms from the crowd and when pretty much every single person joins in on the chorus it's really quite glorious. If ever Hundred Reasons doubted themselves they only have to look out into the crowd during this number to realise that they are responsible for some of the greatest anthems of the last few years. The crowd get their moment to shine again during 'Falter' before a brilliant rendition of 'If I Could' rounds off the set.
The band do give Paul a short tribute and the crowd chant his name, ever modest he can only reply with "you're too kind". Not a bad way for him to end in front of an adoring crowd and for the rest of the band it remains to be seen where they will go from here. Surely they've been through the worst of times and now both band and fans are reaping the rewards of their perseverance.