Nothing More: Shepherds Bush Empire
Siamese
The venue is packed for the opening band, a wonderful sight to see, especially seeing as Siamese opened within 30mins of the venue doors opening. Security were easy and efficient at bringing fans in which really helped Siamese have an audience to play to from song one.
Opening with their hit “The Shape of Water” ft. ten56., The band enters with flair and excitement, alongside a confident yet calm demeanor brings power and excitement. Their guitarist, Christian, switches to violin frequently which adds a truly heartfelt desire/heartbreak energy to the show.
A perfectly executed lighting show and brings an A-level production which sets the tone for the night at an extremely high level. The mix is honestly so good: Dynamic, controlled, clear, faultlessly balanced, powerful and not too loud!
The vocalist, Mirza, adds narrative to the show with expressing that as a refugee from the 90’s, he relates to when you lose your family members, and shows his solidarity with the genocide in Palestine, which resonates strongly with the crowd. He also dedicates the last song to mental health and anxiety and anyone sharing those struggles.
A flawlessly executed set with kind-hearted appreciation and unstoppable energy makes for an amazing start to the show.
FFO: Ten56., Issues, Architects, Spiritbox.
Sim (Silence Iz Mine)
A hip-hop styled intro with blue and red lighting launches into a super powerful initial song. The band move straight into their signature Reggae-Punk genre style and show a willingness to skank and dance/spin at the drop of a hat.
Vocalist “Mah” commands the crowd with huge energy and a heartfelt persona. He stops between songs to grab a hoodie to sign from the crowd, which he returns between songs a few songs later. He doesn’t hesitate to get the crowd involved, either waving their hands or doing the monkey-dance over “Blah Blah Blah” (a personal highlight).
The combined backing vocals from the entire band keep a wonderful energy rolling throughout all sections.
A Jamaican flag is seen in the colorway of the lighting, perfectly accompanying the Reggae-Punk vibes of the band, and providing a powerful contrast when the breakdowns kick in and go to full flashing reds.
The crowd doesn’t hesitate to scream lyrics to their favourite songs, especially the 2 songs from the bands “Attack on Titans” collaboration, “Under the Tree” and “The Rumbling”.
Considering the band has only played in London 3 times, it’s amazing that they have such a dedicated fanbase. During their last song, they run out of time, and full marks to Mah for handling it with grace and composure, turning it into an opportunity to ask the crowd if they should come back and headline London, which meets the crowd with a roaring response.
Having never seen the band before, I would definitely see them again.
FFO: Twelve Foot Ninja, Skindred, Electric Callboy, or any band you want to laugh and headbang to.
Nothing More
Of course, the band of the evening is met with great attention and excitement. The band opens with playback of “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, which gets everyone singing along, which is interrupted with a huge “boom” and show-start over the second chorus, which ensures the whole room is focused, screaming and ready for the final performance.
The band open with a personal favourite “Let ‘em Burn”, and the room goes nuts. The whole band owns the stage from the outset and are totally in the zone.
In between songs, Nothing More gives the opening bands a shout out which is always nice to see. Siamese gets a great cheer but SiM's callout really goes wild. The band operates as you would expect, like a perfectly rehearsed production, no strangers to a perfectly managed energetic journey. At one point, the guitarist Mark gets into the crowds’ face in the photo pit, and Karolina (2470 photographer) captures him from behind here: Crowd sings powerfully with choruses and hook lines, like “She’s not the one for you” from “Jenny”, which is sung along to so loudly, you can really tell that song resonates with the crowd strongly.
The band announced a new album this year, and debut a performance of “Angel Song”. “Falling Like angels” gets a huge swing along from crowd. This song will be a huge hit. The vocal hook plays with major and minor 3rds in such a haunting way.
The drummer Ben performs a great drum solo in 7/4 which has the whole room fired up.
It’s totally understandable that vocalist Jonny doesn’t have his signature tribal drums considering the nature of the touring and the state of the touring industry nowadays. As a fan and drummer, I would love to watch him in the future on a larger production enjoying his live percussive engagement. The lack of this doesn’t hold back the show at all though.
The evening is brought to a perfect close with fan favourite “This Is The Time” with a powerful drum outro.
Incredible performance throughout, definitely recommend all of these bands for future show attendance!
FFO: Karnivool, Tool, Dead Letter Circus
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