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New Music Friday 5

The Old Pink House - Expectations

The Old Pink House are back with much anticipated track expectations. Once again they don’t fail to amaze us with their indie pop perfection. The retro sounding synths give the song a real pop flair while the heavy riffs keep it from sounding cheesy. And we know we say this every time but honestly this is their best song to date.

Iguana Death Cult - Pyramids

One of the Netherlands finest indie bands that the world doesn’t know about... yet. Earlier this week they performed in London as part of Dutch Impact and certainly made a huge impression on everyone there. Their 2017 debut album The First Stirrings Of Hideous Insect Life was truly one of the best released that year. Pyramids is the opening track to that album and it hits you right in the face with that particular Iguana Death Cult sound. We can’t recommend seeing this band live enough to fully understand their energy and hear the songs the way they were intended to be heard.

Gengahr - Where Wildness Grows

Where Wildness Grows is the title track to the bands 2nd studio album which came out today. We are long term fans of the band so our review might be slightly biased, but in our opinion Gengahr’s new material sounds more dreamy and haunting than ever before. Where Wildness Grows makes us want to dance around in a field while at the same time it makes us want to lock ourselves in a dark room and never do anything else ever again apart from listening to this record. Festival season was invented for this song.

Lewis Bootle - Routes

Everyone that has ever seen Lewis play live is instantly convinced of his talent. As difficult as it is for a songwriter to stand out in today’s music scene Lewis really does have that special *something* that will take him far. The Routes EP was released late last year as a follow up to his The Seed EP. Today marks the release of the Routes music video which seemed a perfect opportunity to us to give this tune some extra love.

Dream Wife feat. Fever Dream - F.U.U

The ultimate anthem to this years international women’s day. On this glorious day Dream Wife and Fever Dream released the brilliant video to go along with album track F.U.U (Fuck U Up). Fever Dream’s feature on the record starts with a brilliant sounding verse in Icelandic which only makes us love them more. Both the video and song portray rock and roll as an extreme sport and not taking shit from anyone. Dream Wife. For. Life.

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New Music Friday 4

School - Pip Blom

Pip Blom is the woman that will finally open the worlds eyes to Dutch indie music. There is so much incredible talent around that everyone seems to be unaware of for some reason. Pip is no different. School is her most recently released single. It’s already gotten a bunch of support from people like Huw Stephens and John Kennedy. It shows off her dreamy voice and unique style perfectly. Later this year she’s set to appear at a bunch of festivals. Keep an eye out for this girl because she is going places.

Big Wilma - Warmdusscher

Warmdusscher are another side project of the childhood/fat white family collaboration insecure men. Alongside the music video for this song, the band also shared their debut album release date with the world this week. On June 1st Whale City will be released and we will all be able to hear what the band have been working on all this time.

Preach To The Converted - Cabbage

Cabbage are back with a brand new single. Preach to the converted possesses that incredible power of making you want to dance but at the same time send you down a spiral of existential crisis. In typical cabbage fashion. The song is clearly made to be played live more than it is to sit and listen to a studio recording of but in our opinion that’s just the sign of a brilliant band.

Dark Crisps - Shy Talk

Dark Crisps is the b side to recently released single Isotonic Youth. Dark Crisps instantly captured our attention upon first hearing the song. Much like their debut single Warlord of the Dance did. Isotonic youth however is a bit more of a grower. Overall shy talk sound like they’re ready to take on the world. While there are clear pop influences in this song it is hard hitting and slightly angry sounding, which is exactly what gives it its power. The occasional shouting of DARK CRISPS // DARKEST OF CRISPS // MY KIND OF CRISPS puts it high up on our favourite list for this week

Usurper - Forever Cult

Forever cult have been on our radar for a few years now. Ever since releasing tunnel vision in 2015 we have been watching their every move. Hearing how their music has evolved over the years is a privilege. Usurper is a dark and heavy sounding song with riffs reminding us of Pulled Apart By Horses and label mates Allusondrugs. We like.

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New Music Friday 3

Dayshell - FTNW

Dayshell are not your typical small blog band. They’re a heavy music powerhouse releasing music since 2013. The lead vocalist for Dayshell, Shapley Bourget, was previously the clean vocalist in metal core band Of Mice & Men. While that all sounds rather intimidating, FTNW is fairly easy to listen to and in our opinion just is a banger. The combination of heavy and clean almost poppy vocals and heavy riffs is a recipe for success. Shayley has a very unique sounding voice which you’ll either love or hate.

Dayshell have never really done much outside of the US so here’s to hoping they ever make their way to our side of the pond.

The Old Pink House - Neck Deep

2018 might be the year for Newcastle bands. We’ve been fans of The Pale White for a while here at last creative and we’ve been adding more and more to that list. The Old Pink House are one of them. Neck Deep will be stuck in your head for a week straight upon hearing it first. And you won’t even be mad at it. The Old Pink House sure do know how to bosh out an instant indie pop classic. It’s just so obscenely catchy it’s unreal.

Bloxx - Novocain

Bloxx have another freshly released tube out in the world ready for us all to obsess over. After a very strong 2017, Bloxx are ready to take over in 2018. With a support slot on the Wombats tour in the bag we’re sure to hear a lot of this band this year.

Bad Nerves - Radio Punk

Bad Nerves should be way bigger than they are. The band have been killing the London scene for quite some time now and have released nothing but good tunes. Radio Punk is the much anticipated follow up to Dreaming, released in early 2017. The song is a fast paced and upbeat punk tune (it very much does what it says on the tin). We found ourselves replaying this over and over again when it came out and we suggest you do the same. Oh, and very importantly, do play loud.

Freak - Everyone’s The Same

Bands that manage to make sad songs sound cheerful hold a very special place in our hearts. Freak is a band that know exactly how to do that. Is everyone the same has the lyrical strength to send whoever is listening to it into instant existential crisis. They make it sound so good you can’t really stay angry at them though.

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New Music Friday 2

Sheafs - This Is Not a Protest

Sheafs are a band that sort of stayed off our radar for way too long. Up until This Feeling’s ‘Big in 2018’ event at Nambucca they never stood out to us enough. However, seeing them perform live, seeing their on stage energy and seeing the crowd respond to them has made us incredibly aware of them. This Is Not A Protest is one of those songs that sounds like it has been around for forever, instant classic type of situation. The band are going on their first ever UK headline tour this March so if you do get the chance to see them, do not miss out.

Riscas - Right kinda day

Right Kinda Day is Birmingham four piece Riscas’ latest release. A powerful indie pop tune sure to be stuck in your head for days even after just hearing it once. 2018 is set to be a big year for these boys; it’s been nothing but sold out gigs for them since the start of January. We wonder what the next step is for Riscas, apart from touring. Having released three songs already and playing loads of new songs at gigs we’re hoping for an EP this year.

Sick Joy - Smiling Shame

Another band we have heard nothing but good stories about ever since they surfaced. These Newcastle-turned-Brighton rockers have a truly unique sound. They’re way heavier than your average indie band but they’re not quite grunge either; they have described their sound as ‘Pop’s Ugly Sister’ before. Debut EP ’Amateurs’ comes out on the 23rd of March and we can’t wait.

HMLTD - Music!

London’s most iconic up and coming band by far, HMLTD have been on everyone’s 2018 list. And for a good reason. Drawing their inspiration from so many different genres their music sounds incredibly refreshing and unique. Within one song they take us from pop banger to alternative techno beats. They are also one the best live bands on the London scene right now. They don’t just provide us with quality live music but we get a full theatrical production of a show with venues decked out in the creepiest decorations you can think of.

Good Kid - Witches

Good Kid are Canada’s finest indie pop band that you’ve never heard of. With only three songs released over the past 3 years Good Kid aren’t exactly the busiest of boys, although they are currently working on an EP full of new material. Ever since the Maccabees called it a day we’ve obsessively been searching for a band that would fill that void in our lives and Good Kid are just that band we all need.

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New Music Friday 1

Lady Bird - Spoons

No one seems to know where this band actually came from. At the start of January it was announced that they were the first band to be signed to Slaves’ own record label Girl Fight. If we’re being honest the Lady Bird lads do sound quite a lot like Slaves, but then again that’s not necessarily a negative in our eyes. Their debut single Spoons refers exactly to what you are thinking of; it’s an ode to Wetherspoons (‘with decor that lacks decorum’). The indie punk sound has been getting increasingly more popular over the lads few months and Lady Bird have hit the nail on the head with Spoons.

Catch them live at the Lexington in London on February 1st for a one off gig with BBC Introducing

The Covasettes - This Feeling

This smooth sounding indie pop band from Manchester have been on the rise for a while. In late 2017 they released debut single This Feeling into the world which has just reached 10k plays on Spotify. Let’s double that number in a week shall we because that song is incredible, especially considering this is the first thing The Covasettes have released into the world. With this song the band have found the perfect balance between heavier riffs and and pop-y sounding vocals. In 2018 so far the band haven’t slowed down for a second; a sold out show at Manchester’s Jimmy’s and a debut London gig at the Finsbury. This is a name we’ll be hearing a lot in 2018 and we couldn’t be happier about it.

Shame - Dust On Trial

Shame, Shame, Shame, that is the name. Perhaps the most hyped new band of 2017 have started 2018 by releasing their debut record Songs Of Praise. A record already shortlisted for the best album of 2018. Dust On Trial is the opening song to the album and it hits you in the face with that true Shame sound. The combination of moody, heavy instrumentals with Charlie Steen’s slightly creepy vocals give this tune its power.

Off Bloom - Golden Dreams

Off Bloom quickly rose to fame in the fall of last year when the Danish three piece got the opportunity to support Dua Lipa on tour. Since then they’ve gone on to win an EBBA (European Border Breakers) Award and play a couple of amazing sets at this years Eurosonic festival. Golden Dreams proves yet again that electro pop music is done best by the Scandinavians, there’s just no denying it. Catchy, fun music to dance around to is much needed every now again again especially at this time of the year and we’d like to thank Off Bloom from the bottom of our hearts for providing us with that.

The Misters - Run

This young band from Brooklyn, NYC popped up on our radar last May when they supported the Walters alongside the Shacks at Brooklyn’s the Knitting Factory. Drawing inspiration from the likes of Declan McKenna and Sundara Karma, the Misters sound like a breath of fresh air through the Brooklyn indie scene. While you can definitely still tell they are Americans their sound is different from what you would expect. Dreamy, floaty indie pop with an almost jazzy vocal takes us right back to summer in the city. Run is taken off the band’s debut EP by the name of Complicated People.

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HMLTD

ESNS18

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NOTHING BUT THIEVES

CIRCOLO MAGNOLIA

02.12.2017

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YVES

HOXTON SQUARE BAR AND KITCHEN

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REVIEW Tom Lumley + Riscas + Airways, Thousand Island, 20.11

 The night starts with me queuing for the wrong venue, which was fabulous. No thank you I am not seeing Nina Nesbitt tonight. Who I am seeing, however, are Airways. Who, in between touring with Nothing but Thieves in the USA and Europe, have somehow managed to squeeze in this show at Thousand Island (formerly upstairs at the Garage). Tonight is the band’s last headline show of the year.

 The opener of the evening is Tom Lumley. Who isn’t a solo artist apparently. They try very hard to get the crowd going but it’s a bit of a rough start for them. Up until the very last song and most recent single ‘Just Like The Light’ the crowd seem to not dig him too much. That last song is definitely the best of their set too. With a catchy chorus and big riffs it’s bound to stick with the crowd for the rest of the night. 

 Taking to the stage next, it’s Riscas. And it becomes very clear very quickly they are still a very new band. It is in fact their first ever show in London. As young as they are, they don’t lack any stage presence. The singer seems comfortable on stage right away. Probably worth mentioning as well: he has a great voice, it reminds me of Matty Healy off the 1975 but more relaxed. They get the crowd dancing a little bit, especially to the two previously released singles Panic Like Tom and Talk Your Mind. 

 Airways might not be from London but it definitely feels like they’re playing to a home crowd. They start their set with fan favourite One Foot. The whole crowd seems to erupt. And that very much sets the tone for the rest of the gig.

 The band are on their absolute A-game. Speaking to fans afterwards that have seen the band play 10+ times, they all kept telling me this was the best they’ve ever played. Jake’s vocals are sounding smooth as (‘let’s get groovy baby’), and the band sound like a solid unit on stage.

 Airways don’t have a lot of songs out at the moment so quite a few new ones popped up in their set. Alien, which they wrote after they couldn’t get into the US earlier this year, is set to be an Airways classic already. One of the other unreleased songs they played is Slow. They have been playing it for almost a year, and has been one of the fan favourites from the get go. 

Only one of the unreleased songs is a little bit disappointing to me. Maybe because they played it right after One Foot, which got a huge reaction. Or maybe not, to me it felt like it lacked something, couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly though. 

 A bit of a surprise came in the form of a cover of Reptilia by the Strokes, which sounded great with Jake’s voice.  The set ends with ‘Mate’. They get one last big sing along from the crowd, paired with a venue-wide moshpit. A monumental night for the Airways boys I reckon.

 Airways are currently touring Europe with the Xcerts and Nothing but Thieves. The boys kept talking about how they have been in the studio loads and new releases are imminent. Airways released their debut EP “Starting To Spin” earlier this year. It is available from all streaming services, and as a physical CD from their online store.

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REVIEW - ESNS18

Don’t leave anything to chance when you’re travelling to a different country for a festival. Especially not when a massive storm is coming. I should really stick to my own advice but of course I didn’t. Gotta love a good hours delay when the festival you’re flying to is starting in 3 hours. Eurosonic is a showcase festival for mostly music industry people but it’s accessible to the general public as well. It’s basically the same as The Great Escape in Brighton, but instead of Brighton you get Groningen. A Dutch student town about 2 hours north of Amsterdam. Needless to say the first night was a bit of a shambles. What I learned at the festival last year is that no matter how much time you put into planning who you want to go see, you’ll end up seeing only a fraction of those bands and a bunch of other randoms. As was the case this year. For the Wednesday night I had planned to see around 5 bands, that then turned into 7 but I missed the first one I was planning on going to. here are a few of the night’s highlights. The girl band you didn’t know you needed, thats who Velvet Volume are. The three ladies hail from Denmark, where they have been fairly successful already; they’ve released multiple singles over the years and even have an album out. I would describe their sound as a heavier sort of indie music, fun songs to dance along to with hard hitting instrumentals. As far as stage presence goes they do have a fair few things to learn, the language barrier proves to be a bit more of a struggled than I had hoped and leads to an slightly uneasy atmosphere every now and again. Having said that though I have faith in this lot to blow up over the next year or so, with tons of potential, incredible styling and most importantly catchy tunes Velvet Volume are set to steal our hearts in 2018. Another Danish collective graces the stage, this time in the shape of Iceage. Slightly more vague than Velvet Volume I would argue. Their music is so spread across different genres it makes for an interesting mix. Even within songs they jump from a psychedelic sound to full on punk. With a 4th album on the way Iceage are one of the more experienced artists at this years festival which really shows. They know how to interact with a crowd and how to give a solid performance. However floaty and strange that performance may be. The last band of the night and one that I definitely was not aware of before this festival are Warmduscher and as it turns out they are South London’s next big thing. The band is made up out of members of Childhood and Fat White Family accompanied by a very strange American singer who truly is my hero. The band are as messy and brilliant as you would expect. During the 2nd song I get both a beer and the mic stand chucked at me from the stage which just goes to show really. Going by the crowd Warmduscher are tonight’s hot ticket; every magazine, every photographer and a huge amount of artists have shown up. I expect Warmduscher to be playing many a festival this summer and I can’t recommend them enough. The second day of the festival comes around and the country wakes up to quite a vicious storm. So vicious all flights into Amsterdam are cancelled. An obvious problem if you are Thursday night’s most anticipated band HMLTD. I mean they’re hardly newcomers anymore but they just are bloody brilliant. Dutch press and festival organisation rely mostly on the bands hilarious Instagram stories for updates on their situation and in the end they just about managed to make it on time.

They shake the city of Groningen to their core the second they walk out on stage. There truly is no other band like them on the scene right now. Their distinctive (to say the least) style grabs everyone’s attention right away. Songs like Stained, Music and Kinkaku-Ji are so powerful in all their strange and over the top-ness. And not to mention how grand the band actually sound live (let’s face it with music like theirs it can really go either way). It should come as no surprise to anyone that they’ll be dominating the international festival season of 2018.

The other highlight of Thursday night are the band I initially missed on Wednesday. A Belgian duo by the name of Equal Idiots. With a stellar debut album called Eagle Castle Barbecue released in 2017 the band seem ready to take 2018 by storm. However the band don’t sound quite as tight as they should, considering it’s only a two piece. The drummer, who looks rather like a physics teacher, is a bit wobbly on timing still, but I expect that will sort itself out as the band play more gigs. Before I know it, it’s Friday and my last day at this years Eurosonic festival. And I would like to say I am not biased when I talk about this next band but honestly that would just be a lie. By far my favourite band of the night/festival are Yonaka. Again not a new name to anyone who wasn’t been living under a rock for the last 6 months. To me Yonaka are a band that tick all the boxes; unique tunes? yes. great live sound? yes. good vibes on (and off) stage? yes. The band premier 3 new songs, one of which is forthcoming single Fucking With the Boss. The song is potentially one of Yonaka’s most catchy songs yet, future classic type of thing. Yonaka are sure to make 2018 their year and frankly I don’t think anyone will be able to avoid them this festival season. I am not at all mad at that. The last band worth mentioning are Canshaker Pi, and band I have been pushing hard to anyone that’ll listen for about 2 years now. The Amsterdam born and bred four piece aren’t here to play games, and they’ll let you know it too. From the minute they walk on stage the venue erupts, not an uncommon occurrence at a Canshaker gig. The buzz around them seems to be picking up with the British music press as well now so I’m predicting a beautiful year for these boys. Almost directly after walking out of the last venue of the evening I am hit with this feeling of emptiness. I promised myself not to wreck my body as much with the festivals as I did last summer but ESNS has awakened something in me. So don’t mind me I am off to buy myself some more festival tickets now.

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REVIEW: Paaspop 2017 /VANT & The Amazons/

Het is april. Tijd voor een festival... nou niet dus want het was verdomme koud zeg je-zus. Maar ik moet bekennen Paaspop doet het, behalve het weer, niet slecht. Het terrein was een stuk groter dan verwacht en deed me zelfs denken aan Lowlands in sommige aspecten. Wat wel erg opviel was het publiek, niet bepaald je typische festival crowd. De gemiddelde leeftijd lag denk ik rond de 40, met veel vrijgezellenfeestjes en dikke oude kerels. Beetje jammer want dat had toch wel invloed op de sfeer die op het terrein hing.

Maar waarom ga je dan ook naar Paaspop vraag je je misschien af.

De redenen voor mijn heuse kruistocht naar Schijndel (waar??) afgelopen weekend waren VANT en The Amazons. En die waren het zoals gewoonlijk weer helemaal waard.

Het feest begon op vrijdag met VANT. 's Middags speelde ze in een tipi voor OnStage en 's avonds stonden ze op de Jack Daniëls stage. In de tipi was VANT te zien zoals ik ze in ieder geval nog nooit had gezien. Ze speelden wel met full band maar een soort stripped back versie van hun nummers. Mattie had voor de gelegenheid z'n akoestische gitaar mee. Was echt erg leip. 

hier en hier het bewijs

In hun main set 's avonds ging het wel weer los zoals we van VANT gewend zijn. De tent stond vol, de pit was gaande en iedereen was z'n stem kwijt na afloop. De setlist bestond uit nummers van het album (inmiddels 2 maanden uit alweer) afgewisseld met nummers van de oudere EPs. Al m'n personal favs kwamen aan bod (Mess Around, Berners Lee, Lampoon en Jesus) dus ik was weer helemaal gelukkig.

Er is niets beters dan een blije band op het podium. Dat je gewoon gelukkig wordt van alleen al de pret oogjes van artiesten zeg maar. Dat was zeker het geval bij VANT maar vooral ook bij The Amazons.

Laten we eerlijk zijn. The Amazons hadden niet bepaald de makkelijkste slot; 4 uur 's middags op Jack Daniels, tijdens Bazart en Tom Odell. Ondanks dat stond de tent nog redelijk vol. 

Op de timetable had de band een heel uur staan, in realiteit werd dit helaas iets korter. Dat hadden we overigens wel kunnen zien aankomen. Al het materiaal wat de Amazons tot nu toe hebben uitgebracht is bij elkaar niet meer dan 40 minuten. Wel speelden ze een nieuwe track van het debuut album dat volgende maand uitkomt. Als dat nummer de toon van het album een beetje beschrijft dan denk ik dat dat album het zomaar heel goed zou kunnen doen. Daar zeg ik wel bij, de sound van deze band komt een stuk beter tot zijn recht als je het live hoort, op studiemateriaal klinken ze voor mij een beetje tam (nog steeds niet vervelend hoor).

Bij The Amazons was de OnStage sessie na hun main set. Ze werden geïnterviewd over hun UK tour die de dag daarvoor was afgelopen en Matt en Chris speelde een aantal nummers akoestisch.

(deze sessie staat nog niet online atm)

Als je dit zo leest denk je misschien dat 2 dagen op een festival wel heel veel moeite is voor deze 2 bands, maar voor beiden geldt dat ik ze nog nooit beter heb horen spelen dan dit weekend. En dat zegt toch wat; dit was de 8e keer VANT en de 6e keer Amazons voor mij (lichtelijk obsessed dat beken ik eerlijk ha).

VANT heeft 2 maanden geleden debuut album Dumb Blood uitgebracht (xxxxx). Ze zijn deze zomer op nog veel meer andere festivals te vinden waaronder appelpop en dauwpop.

The Amazons komen met hun eerste plaat op 26 mei (xxxxx). Ook zij zijn te vinden op de festivals deze zomer namelijk op Best Kept Secret en Valkhof (die is gratis en daar worden we blij van).

Gaat. Dat. Zien.

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ISLANDISLANDISLAND

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LIVE REVIEW Underworld TivoliVredenburg 14.03.17

Op 13, 14 en 15 maart stonden Richard Smith en Karl Hyde van Underworld in een uitverkocht TivoliVredenburg. Waar ze vorig jaar 2 avondjes Paradiso deden, is dit een gigantische increase aan publiek. 

 Een Underworld gig is even een ander publiek dan waar ik aan gewend ben trouwens. Om te beginnen ligt de gemiddelde leeftijd zo rond de 45. De 45-jarigen die nog naar dit soort gigs gaan vinden zichzelf erg interessant, waardoor de sfeer een beetje apart is. Ook zuipen ze te veel en vinden ze zichzelf erg edgy# als ze op de eerste rij wiet staan te roken. Oke dan. 

 Zoals iedereen weet die Underworld wel eens live heeft gezien, het is een soort openbaring. Ik verwonder me er ook elke keer weer over hoe 2 niet zo jonge kerels de hele zaal meekrijgen. Ze worden daarbij geholpen door idiote lichtshows en licht psychedelische achtergrondjes. 

 Het prettige van een ervaren band op het podium zien (gebeurt niet zo gek vaak bij mij) is dat ze ook een beetje tekst en presence hebben. Hyde lult er tussendoor lekker op los. 

 'Roses are red, violets are blue, this is my mate Richard Smith' 

 Ook kan je aan de twee zien dat ze nog steeds plezier hebben in live spelen; ze staan constant met een grote lach de zaal in te kijken. 

 Een honorable mention ook voor de dansjes van beide heren. Smith heeft ware Martin Garrix handjes in de lucht en springen momentjes. Terwijl Hyde een grote variety aan dad-moves laat zien. Bij elkaar een zeer hilarisch plaatje. 

 Er was in de zaal wel een duidelijk verschil te merken tussen nieuwe en oude nummers. Begrijpelijk ook, ik ben zelf niet zo heel gek op die nieuwe nummers moet ik bekennen. Hierdoor kakt het publiek een beetje in op de helft maar met nummers als Cowgirl en Rez wordt iedereen weer wakker geschud. Ze sloten de set af met, hoe kan het ook anders, Born Slippy. 

Underworld is een band die nog leip is zelfs als je alleen Born Slippy kent. Zoals bij mij de vorige keer het geval was. Ook op de festivals gaan ze het goed doen denk ik, dus als je de kans krijgt om ze te zien, zeker doen!