LIVE REVIEW: Crows @ Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff

At arguably one of Cardiff’s most famous grassroots venues Clwb Ifor Bach, London four-piece CROWS have taken their deafening live show on tour. The last time they had appeared in the city was in support of IDLES they had clearly made an impact at such a show because the audience comprises of the same people who had seen them at this moment.

The band with the task of warming up such an audience was Clwb regulars CLWB FUZZ (fitting name). A band that are Clwb Ifor Bach regulars, their style of indie rock was an interesting choice to say the least. The five-piece perform extremely well together and choose the addition of a live synth player rather than using a backing track system, which adds to the performance. They are evidently veterans to this local scene but not this type of audience. They seem an odd choice to support a band such as CROWS, choosing melancholic vocal melodies and a tempo that just seems to plod on instead of psyching the crowd up. Their set is redeemed toward the end however, when an audience member decides to insert themselves into the band as their brand-new tambourine player, just for one night.

Rating: 6/10

Now with a somewhat disgruntled audience on our hands, the main act finally take the stage. CROWS change the dynamic of the room almost at the instant they begin playing, with the audience already bobbing heads up and down before frontman James Cox can even begin singing. They have that rebellious nature that the crowd have been craving for the last hour, using the lack of stage to their advantage and mixing amongst the crowd throughout the set. They prove exactly why they deserve this headline slot with a performance that packs a punch. They are extremely consistent and even while in amongst the audience, they keep up their extremely professional performance and don’t make a single mistake throughout. They don’t let the various cables and leads that usually leave artists tethered to the spot stop them. Most of the set is comprised of songs from this year’s release Beware Believers and rightly so – it’s an amazing album. The crowd finally found their energy with this band and its refreshing to see them enjoying themselves, compared to the questionable start to the evening.

This show has been a long time coming since the pandemic and it is time for CROWS to reap the rewards of their latest release – there is absolutely no better way for them to do this than with a crowd full of their adoring fans. The band are able to make this small downstairs bar feel like an arena show with an energy that is incomparable to most other acts on the scene today. The sense of atmosphere they build throughout their reasonably short set doesn’t even begin to fulfil their potential and is clearly just the start of many great things to come for CROWS.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery from the night’s action in Cardiff from Megan Jenkins Photography here: 

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