By Alex Pearson
We take the trip back down memory lane when The Sherlocks came to The Sugarmill in February. Now fast forward seven months and they’re back to the glorious Stoke venue.
Blaenavon are an indie rock trio hailing from Liphook/Liss, Hampshire. The band consists of Harris McMillan, Frank Wright and Benjamin Gregory. Blaenavon have bagged themselves the perfect Autumn tour by supporting The Sherlocks (which was their last gig with them tonight) and they will head off to tour with The Hunna, which they start tomorrow in Nottingham (22nd Sept).
Blaenavon’s sound is completely different live, not in a bad way either. They play louder and clearer, slick guitars and a great bass beat they play with a bold attitude to show off their experience as a band. A great example of this is “Into The Night”, where frontman. McMillan lets loose and lies down on the stage and play his guitar with perfection. Not to mention jumping off the front boxes of the satge to only fall into The Sherlocks drum kit. But played on like a true professional.
The Sherlocks come bursting out onto the stage to their genius intro chant “Sherlocks Army” with the fans clapping and jumping in the air whilst they go straight into their hit track ‘Last Night’ and instantaneously re-creating the best atmospheres I have seen at the Sugarmill once again.
Now with five released songs you would think how have they got a 40-minute set? But looking at their set list they have quite a few songs hiding in the locker (suggesting a debut album might be in the process) to entertain us with. Two of them being ‘Chasing Shadows’ and ‘Motions’ have a slick drum beat and twangy guitar flicks the crowd really enjoyed the tunes and were getting in with the action.
Hit singles ‘Live For The Moment’ and ‘Heart Of Gold’ got the biggest reaction from the crowd with everyone involved in the mini mosh pit, all dripping in sweat including, frontman Kiaran Crook standing on top of the box that covers the speaker plucking the strings of his rhythm guitar.
Once the set finished the friendly band came over to the merch shop to sign posters, sell t-shirts and take a few selfies before packing up ready to go to their hometown show in Leeds.
Check out their latest single ‘Will You Be There?’ below!
