More about: Black Country New Road
Equally cryptic as it is progressively seductive
On Saturday 6 March Black Country, New Road took on Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall for a live stream gig. Logging in as the group take on ‘Athens France', we find frontman and vocalist Issac Wood’s vibrato to be on great form and the jagged buoyancy of ‘Athens France’ has us completely enticed.
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With three screen backdrops, two billboards, blinding stage lights, and what appears to be a crowd of ten (socially distanced) people in the seating area, it’s fair to say their set up gave a heated nostalgia for live music. In the past Black Country, New Road have been extremely unpredictable with their live shows, but Saturday night’s performance felt completely polished.
Following ‘Athens France’ is the hyper-charged ‘Science Fair’ the group's official lead single from their debut studio album For The First Time. From bubbly, distorted notes to Lewis Evans' lovely sax, ‘Science Fair’ live is hardly disguisable from its recorded counterpart. Mastering the unsettling mixture of utter frenzy through distorted keywork and flirtatious sax playing, ‘Science Fair’ went down very, very well.
If like most of us, you can’t fathom just how effortless the transition between ‘Science Fair’ into ‘Sunglasses’ is on For The First Time, just know that the band made this look even easier on Saturday night.
Spiralling into the nonchalant, spoken work ‘Track X’, suddenly the audience - who have spent majority of the show comfortably in their seats - are all standing up, stiff as dolls. The build-up of ‘Track X, progresses beautifully amongst delicate harmonies, whilst the audience all stand in awe: it’s at this point do you realise, they’re just a mere accessory to the show – a clever, yet disturbing touch. There was something strangely cultlike and disturbing about the entire setup of this gig: it was great.
Rolling into ‘Opus’ Black Country, New Road have never sounded so perfect: together, the powerhouse create a beautiful, orchestral masterpiece of a gig, equally cryptic as it is progressively seductive. ‘Opus’ is the sound of excellence: that, we're not afraid to admit. As the group accelerate into the first burst of their chorus, the room falls dark and yet the stage lights are illuminating, flashing frantically – it’s classical chaos, it’s BLACK COUNTRY OUT THERE!
Just when you think it’s over, the group break out into nonchalant ballad ‘Bread Song’, Wood switching to an electro-acoustic guitar and the band accommodating soothingly to his delicate plucks. ‘Bread Song' is a single not featured on the album, but was instead announced during one of their Twitch live streams February this year.
Following their theme of surprises, the group conclude the show with ‘Basketball Shoes’, a track penetrated by the audience harmonising demonic moans. From beginning to end Black Country, New Road have exceeded literally any form of expectation with this gig. Words do not seem to be to do them enough justice: an epic performance to say the very least.
More about: Black Country New Road
Photo: Press
