With a number one album and a sold out tour it’s fair to say Blossoms have cracked the UK market. The same can’t be said for the rest of Europe, however, with the five piece relentlessly pursuing the continent in order to achieve the same level of success they have witnessed in their home country. If they don’t achieve this then it won’t be for lack of trying. The band brought their radio-friendly guitar pop back to the German capital for the second time this year to Musik & Frieden, located within the thriving gentrified hipster district of Kreuzberg.

For a band that is so quintessentially British and loyal to their hometown of Stockport, I was intrigued to see how they would relate to their fellow European counterparts. It turns out that dry-witted humour and sarcasm go down just as well in Berlin: a city that, after all, wears its multiculturalism as a badge of honour. The Guardian reviewed the debut LP with the headline ‘Abba meets Arctic Monkeys’ and that marriage is even more apparent when placed in a live setting. Tom Ogden’s passionate vocals merge neatly with the disco impulses of the rhythm section and sporadic guitar work, all under a backdrop of synthetic frameworks created by the overloaded multitasker extraordinaire, Myles Kellock.

The atmospheric ‘Texia’ kicks off proceedings with a jolt back to the 1980s before ‘Getaway’ and ‘Smoke’ calm things down. With seven singles to fall back on there’s no mid-set respite as ‘Cut Me And I’ll Bleed’, ‘Blown Rose’ and ‘Honey Sweet’ keep the German crowd in a disco-infused stupor followed by ‘Smashed Piano’ and ‘My Favourite Room’ exhibiting Ogden’s saccharine side. ‘At Most A Kiss’ and ‘Charlemagne’ then complete the show, receiving the greatest response of the night.

However, whilst these two compositions fit neatly into the hook friendly synth pop the band are now known for, the track sandwiched between them, ‘Blow’, doesn't in any shape or form. This psych-infused 60s garage track may not possess the radio-friendly hooks of the recent singles but it’s the band’s finest song and it’s a shame they went in an alternative direction following their earlier releases. A quick google image search of early photoshoots even shows the five piece looking completely different aesthetically, draped head to toe in Doors-esque black turtlenecks and jewellry. This also questions the motives of doing so. Granted, the musicianship and songwriting skills of each member are of a high standard, but the Blossoms experience seems overly regimented and carefully strategized. Perhaps that’s what it now takes for a guitar band to be successful within the modern music industry.
Paul Hill