Catfish & The Bottlemen at Brixton Academy, London - 6/11/15
Having released their debut album The Balcony in September 2014, Catfish & The Bottlemen’s rise to fame has gone beyond the Llandudno foursome’s wildest dreams. Championed by BBC Introducing, the band’s popularity can be easily measured by the contrast between their 6 song set on the Introducing Stage at Reading and Leeds in 2013 to arguably one of the biggest and liveliest crowds the Radio 1/NME Stage has ever seen at the same venue just 2 years later. The NME’s 4/10 review of The Balcony less than a year earlier couldn't have ever predicted that.
The band announced their first date at Brixton in March, prior to setting off on their biggest UK tour to date. Selling out in just 6 minutes, the band released a second date at Brixton, which was supported by an even bigger sellout UK tour announced later on in the year.
Support was provided by the London Souls, a two piece, New York City based, rock group. The band must be admired for filling the large venue with sound using just a single guitar, drum kit and vocals. Sounding like a bluesy blur between The Black Keys and Led Zeppelin, the band performed a well rounded set, modelled around traditional rock. Sadly, didn't seem to balance too well with the indie pop/rock sound of Catfish, meaning that perhaps the London Souls didn't quite receive the appreciation they may have deserved.
With The Beatles’ Helter Skelter blaring out as the lights dropped down on the quadrant, there was a feeling of a more polished performance than previous tours, which continued throughout the night. Kicking off the set with “Rango”, it was quickly apparent that this was going to be a night to remember. This was followed by “Pacifier”, seeing the whole crowd erupt as they chant like a 5,000 strong bunch of football fans at the FA cup final.
Throughout the performance, frontman Van McCann took time to place up into the expanding audience, singing out his lyrics word for word. This has been the culmination of some incredibly hard work by the band, but they have remained truly humble throughout this, which is something we hope continues. Later in the set, fellow band members Bob Hall, Benji Blakeway and Johnny Bond left McCann alone on stage to perform their only acoustic song on the setlist, “Hourglass”. This song has always been suited to smaller and more intimate venues, before the bands popularity soared, so it was most welcome for this song to be played at such a large venue. The power and energy of the audience was especially apparent during this, allowing Van to step away from the microphone and embrace the crowd as they finished off singing the song for him.
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| Photo by Harry Silcock |
Debuting on this tour was the first song from the second album. Bathed in green light, McCann sung “7”, leaving all of us aching out for more new music. Next up was the massive single “Cocoon”, followed by “Homesick” - the first song that Catfish released. Closing the set was the massive anthem “Tyrants”.
With the second album due to come out next year and the band set to expand more and more, it’ll be interesting to see what direction the band will take when it comes to live shows, whether they’ll continue at venues the size of Brixton or start to push towards arenas. Whatever direction they take, we’re incredibly excited to see what is in store for the band in the future.
Setlist:
Rango
Pacifier
Sidewinder
Fallout
26
Business
Kathleen
Hourglass
7
Cocoon
Homesick
Tyrants
WRITTEN BY HARRY SILCOCK.
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