The final night of their latest UK tour and a hometown show celebrating the release of their newest album Impressions, Tall Ships are back with a much anticipated and packed show at The Haunt.

Opening the evening are Breathe Panel, a band who will also be playing our Alternative Escape stage on 20th May. Their dreamy indie vibe was an excellent introduction to the show and got the crowd responding early on. Following is Hannah Lou Clark, a solo folk artist with some incredibly soothing vocals. Her tracks all contain an immense level of passion and hold a surprisingly strong pulse for such a simple setup of just her voice, guitar and the occasional use of a drum machine. Hannah’s song writing is equally impressive and tracks such as ‘Don’t Sweat It’ are a brilliant demonstration of both catchy lyrics and strong riffs from one guitar.

The room has nicely filled and Tall Ships enter the stage. The lovely wooden bass fills the room beautifully and vocalist Ric Phethean’s husked tones add an immense level of depth within the opening number ‘Day By Day’. As the track builds, Ric and bassist Matt Parker use the entirety of the stage, expressing a brilliant level upbeat energy to get the crowd moving. As the track comes to a close, the crowd are definitely on the band’s side and let out an eruption of applause.

As the set progresses, some minor issues begin to arise. There is something definitively off about the overall sound of the band, it seems as though something hasn’t been mixed correctly from the sound board as there are times where Ric’s incredible vocals seem somewhat drowned out by the surrounding instruments and aren’t being utilised to their full potential. This trend does somewhat throw off the momentum of the set in it’s earlier stages, however it is soon recovered.

Being the final date of their UK tour, you can certainly feel a sense of both excitement and sorrow within the band’s performance. The crowd’s welcoming response to each track are more than enough to push the show through strongly and you can see smiles on the faces of each band member. ‘Ode To Ancestors’ and the band’s older tracks seem to receive a stronger response than the newer material, however all are still played with a good level of precision and enthusiasm. As ‘Ode To Ancestors’ builds up to it’s titanic chorus, Ric’s immensely strong vocals and Matt’s bass chords send the track to an all new level of sound that is truly a spectacle to behold.

Tonight’s encores are the equally powerful ‘T=0’ and ‘Vessels’ and are by far the highlight of the entire show. The songs both send the crowd into the largest frenzy of the evening and a spontaneous mosh pit opens up for the infectious tracks. Tonight has definitely been a demonstration of how dedicated Tall Ship’s Brighton following is and acted as a terrific ending to the band’s tour despite the minor sound issues.

Impressions was one of the best albums I’ve heard all year and tonight’s show has more than done the record justice. It is clear that many, the band included, have come away with large smiles on their faces and that Brighton could not have been a better place to end the tour. Tall Ships are definitely making some big waves across the country and hometown shows such as this prove the band are more than deserving of such hype.
Ben Walker

Read our interview with Tall Ships here: https://brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/new-music-interviews/2298-tall-ships-interview-2017
Read our review of their album Impressions: https://brightonsfinest.com/html/index.php/music/2301-tall-ships-impressions

Website: wearetallships.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/tallships
Twitter: twitter.com/tallships