Reviewed on 17th July 2011.

Crooked Tongues

Live at Cockpit on Saturday, 9th July 2011

Tonight was the night I finally saw 2 bands that seem to have a lot of hype surrounding them, a lot of people are talking about them, and a lot of good reviews too. I got to The Cockpit hoping that the night would not be a disappointment, and apart from some technical issues with the sound, the night went perfectly.

British Daylight brought their Libertines influenced sound to The Cockpit, and these local boys know how to put on a good show. Playing songs from their recent self-titled EP and a few new ones, they played them very well and seemingly effortlessly. Frontman Rob Walker was particularly energetic tonight, moving about the stage (and even into the crowd at one point) nonstop all night. British Daylight look like a band that are just happy to be playing music they love, and this makes their live shows enjoyable for the crowd. I'm sure one day soon we'll see these boys in a bigger venue headlining.

Crooked Tongues take to the stage just before 10pm, and one of the first things that they do is put out an open threat: someone stole guitarist Danny's capo and they weren't happy about that. They then launched into their Oasis influenced indie rock future anthems. This band's reputation precedes them; they are headlining a gig at the Cockpit and they only released their first demos on the same day, so they have got there purely by putting on good live shows and building hype. It really shows tonight, even if there are sound problems, mainly that singer Tom Dawson's vocals are far too quiet; I was stood at the front and could only barely hear him. They go off and come back on for an encore, a brilliant cover of Cigarettes and Alcohol by Oasis, playing it almost perfectly and generating a huge crowd response. These are ones to look out for in the future, they're going to be very big, very soon.