On Wednesday, 20 April,
Brooklyn Bowl London transformed into an indie disco of epic proportions, with a live soundtrack provided by one of the scene’s leading hit makers, namely Dundee quartet
the View. The eclectic crowd gathered was first treated to a warm-up round courtesy of
the Stamp. These young Liverpudlians, still perhaps relatively unknown outside of underground indie circuits, clearly have a bright future ahead of them. Their short but sharp set of buoyant, catchy and danceable ditties continued the tradition of jangly Scouse guitar pop first pioneered by
the Beatles in the early ’60s and carried forward into the Britpop era by bands like
the Lightning Seeds. The young four-piece concluded their compelling performance with a suitably spiky cover of
“Can I Get a Witness,” during which their singer worked the stage like
Eddie Cochran whilst the lead guitarist showed off his nifty finger work. If you’re looking for 21
st-century
Merseybeat done well, the Stamps could be your new favourite band.
It’s hard to believe the View have been around for 10 years, and they still don’t look a day over 25. But that’s because they barely are — singer
Kyle Falconer is only 28. The band signed and broke big at such a young age, and whilst they haven’t quite retained the success that they enjoyed early on in their career, they continue to draw sizeable crowds in England’s capital city (when they perform in their native Scotland it’s an even bigger cause for celebration), and as Wednesday’s performance proved, they still pack a mean arsenal of tunes. Songs from their debut album,
Hats Off to the Buskers, right through last year’s
Ropewalk pull from a wide pool of influences, taking in punk, power pop, vaudeville, and folk, and it’s the sheer scope of their songwriting that’s ensured Falconer and Co. have enjoyed continued relevance in an increasingly fickle and transient industry that’s seen many of their contemporaries fade into obscurity. The View also know how to write hooks, and this show had hooks aplenty.
The cheeky one-two punch of
“Sunday” into
“Same Jeans” at the end of the show was so hook-laden, in fact, that it inspired a mass stage invasion for the band’s closing number, which they were barely able to finish due to the chaos that ensued. We’ve seen some wonderful moments at
Brooklyn Bowl London in the past, where the fourth wall is torn down and the band and crowd become one onstage, but this eruption during the climax of the View’s performance even outdid the carnage that went down
at the Bronx show at the end of last year, and we don’t say that lightly. There must have been at least a hundred people up onstage, all fighting for the spotlight or the nearest microphone. Quite frankly, the band didn’t stand a chance, and after the music died they disappeared into the ether, never to be seen again. If anyone happens to spot them, tell them they did a cracking job.
—Matt Stocks | @mattstocksdj
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Photos courtesy of Trudi Knight
www.bandsonstage.co.uk