The notorious Brit, music mag NME recently held their annual award tour, which ended on the 4th of March. The tour itself has been running for 20 years, and is renowned for promoting such bands as Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, Florence and The Machine and, more recently, Royal Blood- who have broken into the mainstream. This year was no exception to the epic scale line-up. What with the likes of Slaves, Fat White Family and Palma Violets there was a conspicuous necessity for anarchy within this years tour. Despite the tour's loss of the Glaswegian ruffians, The Amazing Snakeheads, the rowdiness of the gig still continued at full force.
It didn't take long for the stalls of The Forum to fill up with turbulent teenagers. The tension to mosh and go wild built even before the bands entered stage, and scoring the best spot was the aim for all of those involved. The mayhem that was to come was instantaneously matched by the unruly crowd.
Having been to The Forum before I expected a brilliant performance with the chance to get a good view no matter where you stand. The spot my friends and I managed to score was a row from the barrier, giving us the opportunity to join in the moshing madness whilst having much needed stability (avoiding the super awkward fallings over).
Due to the recent spilt of The Amazing Snakeheads, their departure from the tour was inevitable. To replace the rough and loud Glaswegianers was the equally as loud trio The Wytches. Although the threesome have some notoriety in the indie scene, they weren't particularly to my taste. The Wytches entered the stage with draping hair, a 'don't care attitude' and guitar riffs for days. However despite providing a performance which catalysed the first serge of sweaty bodies and the forming of mosh circles, the band marjorly lacked in crowd interaction- maybe that's their thing but without a doubt it caused the audience to loose interest. They ended the performance with a petite "thank you" and a guitar shred literally on the speaker- very rock and roll.
The next on were two lads from Kent, Slaves. The British two piece from Tunbridge Wells, formed in 2012, are signed to Major record label Virgin EMI. Their popularity peaked after the release of their EP Sugar Coated Bitter Truth along with the release of numerous singles, following this the duo has performed on Jools Holland as well as being nominated for BBC Sound of 2015. Arriving on stage in matching black shirt and trousers,the pair soon became dishevelled and finally shirtless. The duo stormed through their set-list with mercilessness enthusiasm. They're set-list comprised of hits such as
Hunter,
Feed The Mantaray and
Where's Your Car Debbie, as well as brief introductory tales of each song. What with Isaac Holman's ruthless beating of his drum kit accompanied by Laurie Vincent's relentless guitar shreds, combined with raw lyrics attacking social observations and demanding revolution ("Don't trust the flies, they're government spies"), Slaves provide a show that is a breeding ground for rebellion.
Following Slaves were the infamous grubby guys extracted from the depths of Brixton: Fat White Family. Having claimed fame through their outrageous antics (from lead singer Lias Saoudi both exposing and fondling himself on stage to the throwing pigs heads at the audience) and the release of their brilliantly hypnotic album Champagne Holocaust, witnessing their music live is an unmissable experience. The sextet entered the stage with characteristic style, from Lias' nude top half to guitarist Saul's cowboy-like suit and hat, and effortlessly powered through the set-list- which was made with surrealist intentions and the desire for it to be endless. The band performed the compelling tracks
Touch The Leather,
Auto Neutron and
Cream Of The Young, full of both filthy and satirical lyrics. When witnessing Fat White Family perform live it is easy to see just how mesmerising the band are. The combination of kaleidoscopic tracks and magnetising dance moves disillusions the "revolting" attributes of the band and allows the crowd to view them only as, much needed, avant-garde realists attacking political beliefs and societal norms.
The final performance and head-liner of the night was the undoubtedly brilliant Palma Violets. Having been popular on the music scene since 2012, with their first single 'Best of Friends' voted NME's song of the year 2012 and having already toured with the NME Awards Tour, Palma Violets are the indisputable 'oldies' of this particular show. However, their music is anything but 'old'; smashing through a 13 song set-list comprised of the classics
Best of Friends,
Chicken Dippers and
Rattlesnake Highway as well as new stuff (
Danger In The Club and
Girl You Couldn't Do Much Better) the crowd was immersed in the music throughout. The Failing limbs of the crowd embodied the band's musical presentation of mayhem. Whilst performing, the band made essential connectivity with the crowd, as well as endearingly knocking each other around on stage. Mid-way through the performance co-front man and bassist Chilli Jesson told the crowd it was "good to be back on home turf". The crowd-surfing and raw-throated sing-a-longs was most definitely the crowd's way of showing that they were just as overjoyed to have the band on "home turf". With the upcoming release of the band's second album this tour arguably will integral to its success: by not letting their name disappear in the midst of new acts and reminding fans just how sensational Palma Violets are.
Despite having to share personal space with fellow fans (who ended up smelling not too fresh), being head butted by an over enthusiastic teen and being accidentally touched by way more than five sweaty fingers, the unhinged, passion filled performances made the circumstances well worth enduring. The night was one of those performances you won't forget in a while, that created a crowd jumping jolly until the end.
