By Alex Pearson
One of the best small venues in the country, The Sugarmill hosted the increasingly popular indie five-piece Eliza and the Bear on Friday (5th February).
First support act of the night was Into The Ark. Consisting of Dane Lloyd and Taylor Jones from the small town of Blackwood in Wales. We had not heard this band before, and we didn’t know what to expect from them.
The two lads were really friendly, they made the crowd feel comfortable while they were getting ready to play each song. Our favorite song ‘Right Track’ was a soft acoustic beat which got the crowd swaying along.
Rocky Nti is an alternative rock four-piece hailing from Milton Keynes. We had never heard of Rocky until that night – even when they’re based not that far away from us – but as soon at the first chord was struck I was instantaneously hooked as well as the rest of the crowd.
They were the most interactive band of the night when they played their final song for the night called ‘Englishman.’ To get the whole crowd going, we were asked to sing the lyrics “I’m not American, I’m an Englishman.” And if you compared them to Eliza and the Bear then into it and involved in their audience.
It came to 9.30 and on come Eliza and the bear to go straight into their newest track ‘Lion’s Heart’, which is a good warm up for the crowd who at first all seemed to be a little slow to get into their mojo.
Swiftly moving into ‘Light It Up’ and ‘Upon the North’ with their keyboardist Callie Noakes going absolutely mental. At the end of the show Noakes’ hair and armpits dripping with sweat after a very energetic show. At some points, he just gave up playing altogether and started to get the crowd jumping and getting hands in the air. I’ve never seen anyone put so much effort into the keyboard in my life. (But then I am only 18 after all!)
Onto some songs that we haven’t heard of yet are ‘Brothersboat’ and ‘Oxygen’ which to Adam and myself thought that they were not as good as their popular singles they have released before. They sounded, all the same, the only highlight was the superb jazz solo from bassist Chris Brand.
Finishing up with the favourite tracks ‘Friends’ and ‘It Gets Cold’ created the best atmosphere by far with their upbeat indie pop tunes finished off the night at a very early 10.15pm – the earliest I’ve ever seen a gig finish. After saying that they would be over at the tent to say hi and get pictures, you would think that they have time to have a chat at the merch stand before packing the bags to head off to the next venue. But unfortunately, they were clearrrly too busy to appreciate their fans for coming down to the show.
