The Sheffield Scenester

This promised to be an amazing feather in the Soundclash cap playing host to three well established bands, all of whom are renowned for their fanbase.

First up to start the night off was New Drama – young homegrown talent – a three piece indie band who gave a slightly nervous performance. The crowd happily sang along to their final number, a cover of The Fratellis Chelsea Dagger but their own material despite its fairly upbeat tempo, unfortunately, wasn’t received with the same enthusiasm.

Next up was The Legion, a band notorious for it’s, shall we say over enthusiastic fans. Last time they played the O2 the gig nearly got shut down due to a degree of crowd trouble, to be fair though it was exuberant minority that could claim responsibility. This time round however the band seemed to go out of their way to calm them down a bit, showing a newly found level of maturity. Each song was thrown out relentlessly one after the other, backed as they were by a driving bass and pounding drum work – like it or not you couldn’t help but tap your foot along to some of their crowd pleasing classics. Throughout this their fans were still high spirited but there was no danger of the gig being shut down – this may have been (in part) due to the lack of security!!!!!!! All this aside I have to say it was the most enjoyable set I’ve seen them perform, both singers were more relaxed in their on stage persona, whilst musically they really didn’t put a foot wrong.

Having been suitably impressed by The Legion it was the turn of Wolverhampton band, The Lines, to make an impression. Mixing experimental indie with the jamming sessions of Happy Mondays, this was shaping up to be an interesting set. Whilst utilizing a variety of instruments, beyond the standard drums, guitar and bass - instead opting for a loop recording, a kazoo of sorts and some strange interstellar sounding pole. With all this going on the rhythm was still as solid as any back to basics indie band whilst pushing the envelope in all directions. The finale of their set was the song ‘Loudmouth’ culminating in singer Alex beating the hell out of a military tattoo on a couple of drums set up on the front of the stage. With a hardcore set of fans singing and dancing along – one guy in particular knew every lyric – the set was over too quickly and I look forward to their next show in the region.

It was now time for the headline act – The Ratells!!! – With a fanbase mainly comprised of teenage girls the young five piece burst on stage to the tune of their opening track ‘Tell Me What To Do’. This was the first time I’d seen new band member Sam and he definitely seems to have settled well with performing on stage. Their music was delivered with confidence and infectious fun as was obvious from the crowd’s reaction as they danced throughout the set. With an upbeat selection of tracks including a cover of Stereophonics ‘Dakota’ it was a great way to finish the evening off this was definitely one of the best Soundclash’s for a while with such high profile bands on show.
With line ups like this you can’t go wrong for a good night out.

Words/Photos Geoff & Gail Buckthorpe