Youth Club are a band who process an awful lot of potential and will very likely be in the public eye in the very near future. Tonight’s set at Bleach was one with no shortage of trance like indie vibes alongside screeching solos and a frontman who holds one of the more engaging personalities within the genre.
Tonight’s supports come in many shapes and forms, singer-songwriter Holly Isobelle brings some very trance like vibes interluded with an incredibly talented bassist, who merges the transient sounds with a level of funk that excels. Other support, Jakil, however bring a tropical feeling performance as their vocalist may have believed instead of being on stage for singing, he was instead auditioning for next year’s Strictly Come Dancing. Whilst his moves certainly add an ‘interesting’ dynamic to the performance, his high vocals are phenomenal and definitely made Jakil a very well suited support for the evening.
Before the show, I spoke to Youth Club’s Reece (Drums) and Danny (guitar) and asked how they felt about playing Brighton. They tell me that it’s always nice playing our beloved seaside city and that this is their first time playing Bleach and they’re looking forward to the evening. Despite the majority of the band’s tour being sold out, it is immediately apparent that tonight’s show was not. If anything the attendance is somewhat more on the dismal side and makes the long and large upstairs room feel incredibly empty. Yet, this does not stop Youth Club giving it their all and from the moment the boys begin with ‘People’, the fans soon find their voices as the Southend-o
As the evening progresses, Youth Club continue to leave their mark on this Brighton crowd, the realisation that this is very much a band who are on the precipice of entering the mass public eye soon dawns and, in this reviewer’s opinion, the boys are certainly deserving of such publicity! Each Youth Club song is vibrant and innately inflicts mass movement on the body through popping basslines and delicate synths. No two tracks are even remotely the same and each bring their own unique characteristics to the set. This is perhaps best shown through the band’s newest release ‘Sorry’, despite only being released a number of weeks ago, the number is received incredibly well by all, as many are eager to shout the lyrics back at the boys, older numbers such as ‘She’s a Dancer’ are also greeted with a chant of applause and excitement yet holds more of a bubbly, ‘messy’ feel than that of the newer material. This track in particular does provide an incredible turning point for the evening as Gerrard himself erupts into the chorus “She’s a dancer nobody ask her” he throws some pretty incredible moves of his own towards the crowd, who in turn respond with an equalled level of enthusiasm, being more than happy to comply with the song’s dancing themes.
My one critique for this evening comes at no fault of Youth Club, they played fantastically. However, as the evening was initially delayed and due to venue curfews, Youth Club’s set was cut and felt incredibly short. If anything the set felt even shorter than that of the supports and left an incredibly hungry audience certainly wanting more. This is a shame, it felt as though Youth Club didn't quite manage to unleash their full potential from the smaller selection of tracks, the inclusion of just one of two more songs would have certainly helped fill the audience’s musical appetite.
Regardless, Youth Club are certainly a band that any indie pop fanatic should have on their radar. A set from Youth Club could very easily be described through words such as: ‘dynamic’ or ‘bouncy’ and whilst both terms are valid observations, I have found the word to best explain the East London boys’ set is simply ‘fun’. The feel good vibes Youth Club bring to the table are definitely unique in an incredibly oversaturated genre and have allowed the boys to stand out amongst the masses. The Youth Club boys are almost certainly destined for bigger things and on their next return to Brighton, are certainly not ones to miss.
Ben Walker
Website: weareyouthclub.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/weareyouthclub
Twitter: twitter.com/weareyouthclub