Best Friends have always been a band to embrace all things DIY, from the homemade feel of their videos to the lo-fi sound of their garage rock-pop. It’s immediately apparent tonight will keep things in a similar vein with one look at the shambolic banner for the band’s name. Basically a bed sheet with the letters ‘B F’ written with some spray cans, it looks like something thrown together for a particularly messy house party in someone’s basement.
 
After Bar Rats and Broadbay set the scene, touring supports act and local group Birdskulls take to the stage. They clearly have a loyal following, or perhaps just a lot of very enthusiastic mates, as things are turned up to 11 in no time at all with head banging and even some premature crowd surfing erupting almost immediately. Birdskulls lead singe has that pained, slightly American inflected, vocal style and a command of an earnest melody and a heavy riff that is reminiscent of classic grunge. This is rock as it should be, working on a crowd in a way that feels totally cathartic in its release of energy.
 
Weirdly the crowd as somewhat thinned out when Best Friends finally take to the stage. They start with album opener ‘Fake Spit’, which despite its punchy length still manages to squeeze in a lengthy instrumental intro. However lead singer Lewis Sharman’s voice isn’t as traditionally strong as their support act and the melodies suffer a little because of it. Initially it doesn’t seem like they’re going to get the same response as Birdskulls, but the band eventually hit their stride with the simple sing along chorus of ‘Cold Shapes’ and the blistering ‘Happy Anniversary’ which brings the energy back up to the same level that was lacking during the first few songs. By now the crowd is certainly won over. Their marriage of fuzzy surf guitar riffs and bright and breezy melodies is a tried and tested, but ultimately winning, formula.
 
A high percentage of those down the front are made up of members from previous acts that night, many of them singing along to the lyrics and having a go at stage diving. At one point the one of Sharman’s guitar strings snaps from his frantic strumming and a member of Bar Rats run across the venue to quickly grab another guitar. All this means that the line between the stage and the rest of the venue becomes virtually non-existent, creating a complete dissolution between where the bands end and the crowd begins. It’s that totally punk spirit that there’s no sense of anyone being elevated above anyone else, everyone in the room is on the exact same footing, they’re just here to enjoy the music.
 
The encore involves an off the cuff rendition of ‘(You Gotta) Fight for your right (To Party)’ by the Beastie Boys, with two of the members of Birdskulls getting on stage to sing while they read the verses off their mobile phone screens. Its fantastically stupid, but the fact that they all seem to be playing it primarily for their own enjoyment rather than the crowds makes for an infectious atmosphere and also a pretty hilarious performance, complete with air guitars and goofy rock posturing.
 
The whole night felt like one big inter-band love-in, Best Friends certainly live up to their name.
Louis Ormesher