On Friday 8th
The Televangelists had their first
headline gig. It took place at Fibbers with one of the strongest line ups I’ve
seen in a while, main support were Aloe
Veras, as well as Serotones and Olivia Britton. The line-up provided
the night with a variation of genres, and whilst sometimes that isn’t a great
thing, I knew in this case it would be a positive. Allowing each band to stand
out in their own unique way whilst still fitting in with each other.
Opening the
evening was new comer Olivia Britton,
having only played a few pub gigs previously, she bravely took the scariest
slot at Fibbers and gave it her all. She played a collection of her own songs
(that can be found on her Soundcloud – I’ll link below) such as Girl, Bleached Peach and Movie
Star Michael, she also played covers of Britney Spears and Tame Impala. It’s
no easy thing to open up at Fibbers, especially alone with nothing but your
guitar, but Liv filled the room with her lovely voice and superb song writing.
Ignoring the chatter at the back of the rom and focusing on those paying
attention, she really captivated those people with her unique voice and cute
stage presence. She absolutely smashed her set which is no surprise as Olivia
Britton is full of raw talent.
Second onto the
stage were Serotones, who pulled off
a bit of a miracle. Minutes before they were set to go on stage I was chatting
with frontman Duke Witter backstage when he suddenly announced he was going to
be sick. The band had to go on and start the instrumental intro whilst Duke
threw up, he suddenly snapped up and swaggered onto the stage like a true rock
star, I’ve never seen anything like it. Despite this, they have a loud and
energetic performance that had the crowd in a frenzy from the second they went
on stage. They played two of their recent releases, She Said and Never Back Down,
the crowd was full of movement consistently throughout their set, but they even
got the whole room to form a circle pit during one of their heavier, climatic
songs. Every member of the band played brilliant giving a raucous, grungey set
with a twist of indie energy.
Main support were
York’s finest psychedelia band, Aloe
Veras, the band had an extra cause to put on a riot worthy show as they
were celebrating Jake Bristow (guitar and vocals) 18th birthday. Back
stage was filled with a lot of love, laughter and legal pints throughout the
night. Behind them on stage they have their trippy moving artwork that adds to
the experience of seeing a psychedelic band live. (Inspired I believe, by the
lightshow at the Hawkwind gig guitarist Harvey and I went to back in March.)
Having recently put their EP Down The
Rabbit Hole online, almost every member of the audience was singing along
to their songs, which is the usual case at one of their gigs anyway. Aloe Vera’s
continued to keep the energy in the room at a high, everyone was dancing and
singing and ready for the night’s headliners.
After hanging out
talking about Callum’s deep fascination for prime numbers, the boys readied
themselves and took to the stage as headliners. I’ve seen The Televangelists perform a handful of times before, and whilst
they’ve never seemed shy on stage they have never completely let themselves go,
until this night. Whether they’d been saving this energy as some kind of
musical hustle or playing as headliners gave them some new found stage presence
I don’t know. But they went on the most confident I’ve ever seen them,
constantly dancing and making use of the space on stage. Every member of the
audience was dancing, nobody left that building without having a fucking
amazing night. Watching all four acts preform stage side and being able to
watch the audience react filled me with so much pride for the York music scene.
We may be smaller than a lot of scenes but we’re full of amazing bands that are
making big and brilliant noise that’s ready to be unleashed.
The Televangelists
played some of the demos off their Soundcloud such as The Underpass, What More
Could I Ask? And 25. Their songs are full of tangy indie guitar riffs that
paired with Callum’s deep vocals and the fast pace tension building beat
provided by drummer Josh Ainley, create a haven of indie goodness. They also
covered Another Number by The Cribs in which Charlie took over on bass and
Callum was left with just the microphone, he delivered the song with a humble
but strong frontman energy. Overall, The Televangelists blew up Fibbers,
leaving every audience member in a buzz but also sweaty, breathless messes. The
whole night was extremely fun and you should make sure you get down to any
future gigs any of these acts are preforming at.
Review and photography by Holly Beson-Tams.
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