The Academy Is...
The Academy Is... are back in the UK and have yet again sold out every venue they're playing. Last night the guys bought their music to adoring fans at the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth.
New Yorkers Young Love were first on stage, when they stepped out they were welcomed to a great reception from the crowd. The band seemed like an odd mix of people but it worked for them, they sounded fab and the crowd seemed to love them. Pretty much as soon as they started playing the majority of the room was dancing, and there was a fair few people singing along too. Throughout their set Young Love had the crowd on their side and no sooner had they finished playing they were out in the crowd speaking to their fans.
Next up was the Audition who have been getting great reviews and have been hugely hyped, and last night they didn't really live up to that hype. Don't get me wrong they were good and the crowd seemed to like them but I think everyone was expecting more from them. When vocalist Danny Stevens spoke to the crowd you kind of sense that his lines were a little rehearsed as though he says exactly the same thing at every single show, I know a lot of bands do that but his lines just weren't believable. On a brighter not they all performed fantastically, you could hear every word being sung and every instrument was incredibly clear making it easy to hear all the layers to their music, but it just felt like something was missing.
The Academy Is... were welcomed on stage by deafening screams and it was clear that all the young girls in the room were excited to see front man William Beckett. It would be fair to say the Illinois quintet were nothing short of amazing. I'll admit I'm not exactly a huge fan of theirs so didn't know quite what to expect, but they blew me away and are definitely one of the best live bands I have seen for a long time.
The guys played a good mix of songs from their new album 'Santi' such as 'LAX to O'Hare' and the current single 'We've Got A Big Mess On Our Hands' but they also played songs from their previous album 'Almost Here' which went down a treat with the crowd, not only were William's vocals backed up by the bands impressive musicianship but they were also backed up by 95% of the crowd singing along. TAI had practically the whole audience dancing throughout their set and with each cheeky smile from William you could see most of the girls in the room fall in love with him a little bit more. A special mention has to go to Andy 'the butcher' Mrotek who is one of the most impressive drummers I have ever seen. When the band left the stage they received a huge and well deserved cheer from the crowd. If you ever get the chance to see The Academy Is... perform live take it, you'll be sorry if you don't.