The Mysterines, a band from Liverpool, is a ‘new hope’ in the UK’s Rock scene. The band’s line-up includes Lia Metcalfe, George Favager, Callum Thompson and Paul Crilly. Their long-awaited debut album ‘Reeling’, just broke into the top ten UK chart. This, combined with their completely sold-out UK Tour, makes them a serious contender to become the best English Rock Band of coming years.
Today’s gig was in the Invisible Wind Factory and is the last concert of the tour. At the beginning, the stage is graced by London based Freulein. The rock duo played surrounded by the last rays of the evening sunshine and with a slowly filling performance hall. They presented the amassing crowd with interesting riffs, raw drumming, and the voice of Joni Samuels reminded me of an early PJ Harvey. This was a good start. Next on stage was Coach Party, a band already known to British gig goers. This four-piece from the Isle of Wight presented an energetic set. Catchy grunge pop songs with interesting lyrics entertained a club now filled to about 80%. It’s good to see so many talented female musicians present in each band tonight. Those festival organisers who notoriously skip many talented female musicians, and year after year create male dominated line-ups will have to change their tactics in the future, or they will be left behind. #BreakTheBias
At exactly 9pm and after a short break, the stage was greeted by The Mysterines. The band started with ‘The Bad Thing’ and ‘In my Head’. Heavy riffs mixing smoke with pulsating lights and Metcalf’s voice created a spectacle worthy of their last performance of the tour. ‘Reeling’ and ‘Old Friends Die Hard’ performed next showed the above average rock timbre of the vocalist. It is hard to believe the band are not rock veterans but just on the threshold of their careers. They are for sure the future of rock music in the making. There were no synths, no computers, no bull $hit, Just pure rock guitar music and a club full of people enjoying themselves.
The band presented itself very well and the stage was filled with musicians who really know what they are doing. We had heavy, rich guitar riffs, pulsating bass, predatory percussion and a voice which pierced right through your body. The band have made massive progress since I saw them last. In my opinion, tonight you could clearly hear that the band has been influenced by alternative rock from the 90s and bands like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, PJ Harvey and even Bob Dylan.
Next, we heard singles ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Life is the Bitch’ which caused the mosh pit to grow and overtook almost the whole hall. The band’s home crowd clearly enjoyed themselves. The main set was finished with the dark tune ‘The Confession Song’. After a short break, Lia came back to the stage only with an acoustic guitar, she performed ‘Still call you Home’. This intimate song, performed impeccably , showed once again what an amazing timbre this young vocalist has. One of the biggest problems of young, debutant bands is their limited song set. Very often they need to play songs from the beginning of their careers or covers and this happened tonight. The vocalist invited to the stage Joni Samuels from Fraulein. The ladies performed The Ronettes cover ‘Be My Baby’. The Liverpool audience supported them singing the chorus. Everyone who ever walked through the Liverpool City Centre on Saturday evening knows that Scousers love to sing. Right after that the full band came back to the stage and finished the concert and the whole UK Tour with ‘Hung Up’, to the joy of the whole audience.
In all we witnessed a confident and very talented British band with a promising future. It is really worth listening to their album and trying to see them live at one of the summer festivals. The band starts their first USA and Canada Tour on 3rd May in San Francisco, the tour will finish with a performance at the festival ‘Welcome to Rockville’ at Daytona Beach on 22nd May, and they will be back in the Fall. Go and see them, you will not regret it!
THE MYSTERINES
COACH PARTY
FRAULEIN
Photos by Tom Adam | Exclusively for @Music,Why Not!