You Me At Six - live in London
With an album coming out in the summer of 2008, You Me At Six decided to take for the road, and give a little demonstration of their talents. Well they certainly did that all right. With only one single released, I had low expectations on crowd size but I was well and truly mistaken. Have you ever attended a gig at the London Monto Water Rats? If so you’ll understand what I mean when I say the crowd were as squished like beans in a tin in that venue. The heat and humidity coming not only from the crowd, but the band was unbearable, well nearly.
The stage was small, five energetic and talented lads performing what they thought would be an ordinary gig. What they were unaware of were the heat stroked, hyped up and crazed fans. After the first two numbers all seemed well. But like many acts have experienced, when they perform their most popular and memorable number, the fans get a little more rowdy than usual. As the group began singing ‘Save It For The Bedroom’, the fans piped up, stormed the stage, stage dived and waved over the crowd. Some took it upon themselves to take the microphone from lead singer Josh, who was trying his best to keep the show as calm and collected as health and safety regulation like, and sing. How these lads managed to overcome this excitement is beyond me. They took a professional stand, and tried to persuade the fans to remain off the stage for the duration of the set…which they only just managed to do. They still dived across the crowd, pushed and shoved but hey that is what a gig is about right?
The performance the lads managed to give was outstanding considering the size of the venue and the stage. The music was loud and literally shook the foundations of the building, as well as the minds of the crowd. The relationship the band kept with their audience was amazing. They got up close and personal, let the fans get a touch every now and again, and encouraged their participation in singing while looking out for injuries during the crazier moments.
The lads of You Me At Six did however calm things down, a little, with a quieter number in the middle of the set, but this just seemed a way for the audience to get re-energised like a Duracell bunny. Energy was at it highest at this gig and if someone had given the crowd light bulbs, I’m positive they could have shone with sheer energy alone. To have such enthusiastic, energy driven and dedicated fans after such a short time on the music scene, there is no doubt in my mind that You Me At Six is going to be a name to remember for the coming year.
The only downside to this set, it should have been longer!