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Strictly speaking, this was a homecoming show. British Sea Power hail from Rottingdean, east of Brighton, but those who made a short journey to the Komedia, like to call the band their own. Throughout the performance, nothing was mentioned whatsoever along the lines of “it’s good to be back” or “we missed this place” but it didn’t need to be said. It was one of those gigs where you could stand and watch, equipped with a smile on your face and without needing anything else at all.
From the off, the evening was a friendly affair. Eamon Hamilton, of Brakes fame and former BSP member, took to the stage. Normally, an artist with one acoustic guitar and an expert-full audience staring straight at them makes for their confidence dying down. Not on this occasion. In fact, Hamilton was a thousand times more relaxed and confident than the other support, These New Puritans. Almost like he felt at home, he finished his set with two songs that spanned an odd ten seconds and had lyrics crying out for someone to “stop being such a dick!”
Then entered fully hyped young stars These New Puritans, with an album released the previous day and success knocking at their door. Despite this, they didn’t interact with the crowd once – instead looking petrified on all occasions. It was a crying shame that such a stunning band on record left all wanting nothing more of them when they left the stage. ‘Swords of Truth’ stood out more than anything, but it’s experimental charm on album ‘Beat Pyramid’ wasn’t evident whatsoever, it almost came across that they’d been given these songs a week ago to learn and play, and weren’t quite ready.
But then we had the mighty British Sea Power to totally eradicate the negative vibe. Despite the fact that many fans may not have got their hands on the latest record, ‘Do You Like Rock Music?’, everybody at least in a sense, was familiar with the sound. The set was dominated by new tracks, opening with ‘Lights Out For Darker Skies’ – a six minute juggernaut that was never going to fail in getting the audience on their feet. The set came to life with ‘Atom’, the almost indie anthem that should most certainly be released as a future single. The same can be said for ‘No Lucifer’, a real crowd pleaser, enforcing all to chant “easy! easy!” like hairless football fans, but it was all in good spirit.
Recent single ‘Waving Flags’ was unsurprisingly huge among the crowd, some members producing their very own mini flags to celebrate its appearance. But when you see a band as flawless as this on stage, with three brilliant, more than credible albums to their name, you really do ask yourself why they’re playing in a venue like Komedia. They’re a stadium band, a festival headliner and it’s unlikely they’ll ever reach those heights. But on the basis of their attitude and liveliness on the night, they didn’t seem to care. Older tracks like ‘Favours in the Beetroot Fields’ suited the intimacy more than others, but when the damn epic ‘Waving Flags’ featured, that’s when Gigwise could feel the frustration inside.
Nevertheless an opportunity, an occasion like this should be cherished because, hopefully at least, you’ll never catch British Sea Power in such a small venue again.
