There’s nothing quite as sweet as when one of the UK’s most up and coming bands makes a return from the underground. Five-piece rockers Young Guns have done just that. They’ve crept up from the shadows of recording to storm our radios and live stages with new fist-pumping belter ‘I Want Out’. Tonight we caught them in Soho’s intimate Madame Jojo’s for what may be our very last chance to see them like this.
The far too short, but very sweet evening kicked off with the only support of the night; local boys Twin Wild. The quartet instantly oozed The Script tone with an amped up rock edge, especially in track ‘Fears’. Their set had a genius stroke of confidence, which provided a captivating start to the evening. The venue’s tiny, yet oddly cool high up stage left no place for the band to hide. Not that this mattered though as each track allured with tight vocality, musicality, and well, just about everything else. Their reception from the crowd was commendable, and although everyone was not so secretly excited for the headliners, their impeccable vocals and easily pleasing riffs kept us pumped.
As an early 9:15pm approached, a very much up for it crowd greeted Young Guns as they erupted onto the stage with ‘I Want Out’. Their huge grins and undeniable energy said it all as their hometown welcomed them back with open arms. As expected, material from second album Bones and first All Our Kings Are Dead kept old and new fans alike bouncing around the room with ‘Stitches’, ‘Learn My Lesson’, you name it. At one point even a very flamboyant fan stage dive made its way into the set.
But its their new material that captured us the most. It showed a very new direction for the band. Moments of pop, electronica and pure chunky rock riff goodness hit us, and sounded heroically brilliant live. What mustn’t ever be denied though is this quintet’s ability to put on a show, and a real good one at that. Whether it be frontman Gustav Wood’s interactions with fans or bassist Simon Mitchell’s fist pumps, every member of the crowd is assured to feel apart of something special, and that it was. As the set drew to a close with the song that changed the lives of Young Guns, ‘Bones’; the sea of people at Madame Jojo’s had witnessed the band entering into the next chapter of their already impressive career.
