Band: The Dirty Youth
Support: Cry Havoc, Night By Night
Venue: The Borderline, London
Date: 20/04/12
With The Dirty Youth receiving critical acclaim across the board at the moment and the release of their brand new debut album ‘Red Light Fix‘ just coming out this month, HTF thought it would be a great idea to get down to their show in the heart of London to find out whether this band are as good live as the sound on CD.
To get the ball rolling was Devon based band Cry Havoc, who not only bought their raunchy guitars and ferocious drum beats with them, but a coach load of fans who wanted to show their support for the band. Frontman Gavin Bolt ran around the stage like a man on fire, climbing on the walls and chairs getting the crowd into gear ready for The Dirty Youth. As the crowd chanted along to ‘Kickin’ It In The Teeth’ with their firsts high in the air, guitarist Tristan Gaskell burst into a rippling energetic guitar solo behind his head, showing off every ounce of skill and talent in his bones.
The raunchy riffs provided by rhythm/lead guitarist James Findlay added this loud, locomotive of hard fast blaring rock across the audience, and trust me, it’s hard not to move when the music is that lurid and in your face. A guitar battle between these two players would be phenomenal to watch, as both of them are outstanding players. This band not only performed with electrifying stage presence, but they killed it. That stage was made for them, and they showed tonight that they were the new owners of London’s stages, and no one is gonna take that away from them quite yet.
Next on the bill was London based Night By Night, a five piece ‘newage’ glam rock band that had the nicest harmonies a young band has shown in a long time. The only problem was, every song sounded the same. The songs were great, but they didn’t have the diversity that Cry Havoc had. Their stage performance was overall very wooden, and didn’t show much movement. But they looked like they were enjoying themselves, and showed some real enthusiasm. The crowd weren’t going for it as much as they were with Cry Havoc but they didn’t seem displeased, so overall, not bad, but could have been better.
Finally it was time for The Dirty Youth, and that Welsh rocking band really know how to open a set. With the beautiful Danni Monroe grabbing that microphone and hammering it to the side as she whips to the thundering beat of the drum. The single ‘Fight’ and their cover of Rage Against The Machines ‘Killing In The Name Of..’ were real crowd pleasers, and even most pits broke out. This band generated such a crowd that the room filled with smoking hot air, so hot that my wet socks from the rain dried out, but no one seemed to care as they jumped around to the music anyway. Two words for this band tonight “kick ass.”
Reviewer: Louisa Smith
Photographer: Tom Russell
