Art rockers Everything Everything have been touring extensively since last year to celebrate the ten-year anniversary of their critically acclaimed third album Get To Heaven (2015). This anniversary was also marked by a re release of the album as an expanded addition with a multitude of brand-new tracks ranging from demos, B-sides and rarer tracks not available previously.
This summer, alongside some prestigious support slots, they have graced more cities with more celebratory shows including an intimate affair at Tramshed Cardiff. The fans braved the heatwave for some glorious air conditioning to dance all night long to an album playthrough that didn’t operate like a normal playthrough.
Joining the party on support was Nottingham post punk four piece Do Nothing and after watching their set, this was a super complimentary line up. With rich velvet vocals and funky rhythms, Do Nothing glided through a journey of a set. They combined sinister backing lines with commanding basslines and unique guitar riffs. The seamless switch between spoken word monologues and groovy chorus vocals kept the crowd on their toes with a passionate driven narrative from vocalist Chris Bailey on tracks like ‘Lebron James’ and ‘New Life.’
This set also served as an exciting teaser for their sophomore album due out in November of this year with the performance of lead single ‘Stars’ and their soon to be released next single ‘Smile.’ The set was closed out by ‘The Nail’ featuring groovy guitars from Kasper Sandstrøm and driving basslines from Charlie Howarth to bring their set to a danceable close.
A heavily processed stuttering guitar line reverberated across the room as the lights dimmed and four silhouettes in matching boiler suits appeared on the stage. The tension grasped at every fan as ghostly vocals from Jonathon Higgs glided from the stage for the beginning of ‘To The Blade.’ The song burst into life with a pounding drumline and distorted guitar riffs as every chorus line rang out. Despite the heat, the crowd were ricocheting against each other and dancing to every song throughout the night.
The first switch up in the album order came with ‘Blast Doors’ being second in the set. It worked to get the crowd even more riled up as lead and backing vocals led a back-and-forth exchange blurring into walls of sound. Higgs’ vocals reached immense heights in pitch to soar across the room on what was such an ethereal track. The back-and-forth exchange was handed to the crowd who gave their all to each last word of each chorus line.
The title track ‘Get To Heaven’ was one big dancing singalong and fans shouting every word with all their might. The drumlines were so addictive from Michael Spearman and could stop anyone from just standing still throughout. Riveting synth lines, bouncing drum riffs and blending vocals on ‘Only As Good As My God’, ‘Regret’ and ‘The Wheel (Is Turning Now)’ kept up the energy as I witnessed some truly unique dance moves from the ultra fans who sang all the riffs and lyrics at the same time! ‘Fortune 500’ was a true cinematic experience with a repeating synth line forming the foundation of the track and thunderous drum riffs crashing into the audience.
The layering of vocals from Higgs and backing vocals from guitarist Alex Robertshaw and bassist Jeremy Pritchard held you in place as you felt yourself descending into what felt like a battle scene in a film. Dramatic pauses, colliding of vocals and one intense synth chord to close the track brought one brilliant journey of a track to a close.
A standout from the album playthrough, ‘Distant Past’ was shifted much further back in the setlist when it’s normally the second song on the album. This made for a super effective change because after the cinematic central segment of the set it was time to get everyone dancing again. ‘Distant Past’ was dripping in attitude and clever spoken lyricism. Everyone was so excited you couldn’t even hear the band singing in any of the pre chorus parts! I loved the extra guitar solo outro from Robertshaw to give the song a new feel.
Higgs poked fun at the fact that they were playing on the same night as Bastille and he wasn’t going to say anything other than the crowd made the right choice and I can concur with this. He then dedicated their next track ‘Hapsburg Lipp’ which was from the extended addition of the album to Bastille.
With soft vocals and a funky bassline from Pritchard, ‘Warm Healer’ closed out the set featuring a distorted monologue bringing this part of the set to an end. Their encore consisted of a mini best of performance starting with ‘Cough Cough.’ The fans clapped along to the heartbeat style riffs as Higgs seemed to deliberate on stage about what he was going to sing next before soaring into more impressive pitches.
Their penultimate track ‘Pizza Boy’ was my highlight of the night as each chorus crescendoed accompanied by disco style basslines and angelic vocals echoed out from the dimly lit stage. With their classic choice of ‘No Reptiles’ being played earlier in the set, the role of ending the set on a high was handed to ‘Cold Reactor’ and the choir vocals danced throughout the room as Higgs rapidly moved through each chorus with precision and grace.
The switch in the order of the tracks from the original album release as well as the replacement of some tracks by new songs from the extended addition made for a really unique playthrough and celebration of Get To Heaven (2015). Despite the heatwave, the fans gave it their all and still went crazy for every song on what was a cinematic experience of a gig.
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