LIVE REVIEW: Against The Current @ Lafayette, London
It’s been mere months since AGAINST THE CURRENT played a sold-out Kentish Town Forum and weeks since triumphant appearances at Slam Dunk. That hasn’t stopped them booking a run of intimate shows, including a stop at London’s cosy Lafayette, which is already heaving barely twenty minutes after doors open.
Openers DEAD PONY style themselves as “nu rock”, erupting onto the stage with a short cover of THE PRODIGY’s Voodoo People before segueing into Ignore This from their debut album of the same name. The bass is positively thunderous throughout, particularly during MK Nothing and 23, Never Me that are built on floor-filling party grooves. “Let’s slow this down a bit,” vocalist Anna Shields grins before “a bit” really is the extent of it, the swaggering grooves of About Love not much slower but every bit as infectious. Bassist Lizzie Reid might be a temporary fill-in while Liam Adams is out with a broken arm but she slots in effortlessly with her former bandmates, laying down thick, fuzzy grooves with a grin. A NIRVANA snippet gets the room jumping “just to check you can” before Mana goes off and a section of the front opens the pit. DEAD PONY themselves are faultless, a whirlwind of energy with some massive tunes to back it up; it’s a shame that the crowd doesn’t return the energy to the level they deserve until the final moments when a “jump the fuck up” moment finally sends them into a frenzy.
Rating: 9/10
The second AGAINST THE CURRENT take the stage to the slow burn, anthemic silent stranger, the capacity crowd are in the palm of their hand. Chrissy Costanza commands the throng with ease, simply motioning and the room responds. “London, how we doin’?” is all the intro needed to good guy and 600 hundred people bellow back the chorus and its “fuck whoever told you to love like that” line. For just over an hour, the quartet prove why they’ve amassed such a dedicated fanbase; they’ve got immaculate pop hooks with the live presence to send crowds from clubs to arenas ballistic, as an early Wildfire with Costanza’s soaring voice proves, along with the League of Legends collaboration Legends Never Die during their encore. AGAINST THE CURRENT also describes their career, having avoided the typical years spent slogging in vans thanks to a fanbase built initially through covers then originals on YouTube that have translated to real-world success.
That doesn’t mean they don’t know how to play a small venue; instead the room is practically bursting at the seams with the people crammed in or the radio-ready “ooh-oohs” of Running with the Wild Things. They’re clearly relishing being back in a smaller room too, grins plastered on faces throughout and heartfelt thanks to the crowd for making the time and continuing to show up for them. So much so that they pull out some real deep cuts with Talk and going even deeper for Something You Need (off their very first EP), sending an already enthusiastic room delirious. Even a power cut mid That Won’t Save Us can’t derail them as the crowd sings every word (“you guys were jumping so hard you unplugged the console,” Costanza laughs afterwards).
With a set packed full of hits from across their career, it still doesn’t feel overstuffed and there’s still time for levity with brief monologues about football and previous shows responding poorly to country music; it feels intimate, like a friend regaling stories between songs. That as much as the pop-rock bangers is indicative of AGAINST THE CURRENT’s enduring, dedicated fanbase that keeps growing with every visit to our shores and they’ll always be welcome here whatever venue size they’re in.
Rating: 9/10
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