Marking the end of their short but sweet ‘Great Expectation’ tour, The Strypes played at Brixton’s Electric, bringing their punk-fuelled bluesy sound back to London before jetting off to America to play the next leg of the tour.
Micheal Jablonka opened the evening, warming up the crowd with his blend of rock and soul. Not the biggest name in music, but definitely worth a listen.
Man & The Echo followed, getting the crowd lively as front man Gaz encouraged everyone to step forward and dance. With a set full of their witty and woke tunes, comments about the Tories, and groovy harmonies, it made a great set. Debuting two new songs, by the end of their set it’s safe to say they’d gained a whole load of new fans.
Jumping on stage with a level of confidence some would say is way beyond their years was The Strypes. Having played Camden’s Dingwalls in June this year, the band return triumphant to London to a crowd eager to hear them play.
As the drums to ‘Behind Closed Doors‘ kicked in the crowd immediately surged forward and went mad. The energy went way past 100% and the crowd seemed to move as one, jumping around and screaming along. The band don’t say much between songs, but they didn’t need to. They command a stage like no other band I’ve seen, and the crowd throughout needed no encouragement to give their all, singing along to riffs and big choruses.
One particular area of praise has to be their stage presence. The band (particularly the bassist, Pete) leap and bound around the stage like no one’s business, full of energy. They also move as a unit: there’s a moment in Angel Eyes where the entire band is completely still for a good 30 seconds before ending the song with a dramatic loud last chorus.
Songs like ‘Still Gonna Drive You Home‘ and ‘Get Into It‘ went down a treat as adrenaline-fueled mosh-pit-filled jams, and that’s what works so well with their set lists. You think it can’t get better, then they blast on to the next song with a killer guitar solo full of flair from Josh McClorey, driving drums from Evan Walsh, deep and dancey base from Pete O’Hanlon and growling vocals with smooth harmonica from Ross Farrelly.
I’ve said it before, they’re a great live band, and ‘Spitting Image‘ still sounds amazing live.