Monday 3 November 2014

Basement + Cloakroom + NewMoon 29/10/14 @ Electric Ballroom London




It’s only been two years since the quintet from Ipswich Basement have played a London show, since their announced hiatus in 2012. Playing what was thought to be as a last ever show at Camden’s Underworld, soon became a myth as a venue less than a breath away, The Electric Ballroom developed the base of the four dated tour. 

Following similar support acts, the sold out London show dragged along Belgium's’ NewMoon to get the crowd  pumping. 
Taking an early start, the dreamy indie vibes soon filled the packed venue as their instrumental explosion captured the crowds senses. More than half of their songs seems to be strained out noises rather than vocals, all emerging into one. Somehow this rare eruption worked perfectly, with the right amount of weight floating each way, as although their set did seem to go on forever, NewMoon proved to be an outstanding support act for Basement. 

Gently pausing in-between breaks, the grand venue soon became filled with huddles of bodies emerging as dear friends and ex-members of old bands made an appearance including, Edd McRae (vocalist from Your Demise) and Charlie Holmes (Vocalist from Heart In Hand).

Main support act, Cloakroom pushed on to take the stage next, as the room fell silent once again.
Similar to NewMoon, Cloakroom produced a lingereing instrumental piece witch soothed your ears and soul, feeling yourself free to wonder along with the music.
With more of an indie inflection, the band filled their slot with a mixture of juxtaposing sounds that pleased the crowd as bodies slowly moved from side to side in time.

Time passed steadily as the build up of tension rose for Basement to make an appearance. When the clock had finally reached 9:20 on the dot, five familiar faces appeared within the mist of the orange lights, spotlighting each shadow. 
Straight into ‘Whole’ the crowd greeted this with a plunge of flying figures bouncing in all directions.

Andrew Fisher’s vocals swept in, met with the hundreds of echo released by the audience, pelting with full expression. The crowd now fully pumped, the band decided to simmer down with a new track off their EP Further Sky, embarking their comeback.

There was a certain chilled out atmosphere at the gig which had seemed to be lost in many others, sure it was a well waited performance, yet everyone seemed to respect others in terms of going nuts. Not saying that the gig was totally calm, as various spots were causing massive havoc while the overall coverage seemed to be chilled out.

The band kept their energy flowing, absorbed by the crowds fuel, as they covered their most famously known tracks within the two albums, occasionally dipping into their new ones. Delighting the crowd with this mixture, screams of voices escaped their mouthes, as the band gave a passionate performance, before ending with a much loved favourite, ‘Crickets Throw Their Voice’.
This sent everyone in the room roaming for one last mosh.

For a band with such a high reputation and style, they have certainly done well to maintain this, two years later performing as if nothing had happened. Basement are more than just a band to most of their fans, and tonight very much proved that.

9/10

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