Making their unexpected live return at this year’s Reading & Leeds Festival as a last-minute booking to fill the Main Stage West two days prior to their Saturday mid-afternoon slot, Surrey pop-rockers You Me At Six were no late arrival, but rather the headlining act at the O2 Forum Kentish Town on the band’s first full UK tour back since ‘Back Again’ World Tour and the groups deserved Gunnersville Festival headliner slot back in 2019, in a world where live music never got stopped in its tracks.
Seven albums in seventeen years together as a band, You Me At Six have the prolific back catalogue of popular smash hit singles and live album deep cut favourites to fill a headlining gig seven times over. Starting off the set with Nice To Me, the first of many tracks of the night to be taken from YMAS’ number one achieving album SUCKAPUNCH, subsequently followed by MAKEMEFEELALIVE, WYDRN, What’s It Like, title-track SUCKAPUNCH, Glasgow and brand-new show closer Beautiful Way, after seven months of festering without any live outing, the energetic atmosphere only intensified and the rowdy reception grew electric for every single one of these new numbers filling the room of the Forum.
Working their way back through their repertoire, for a batch of classic You Me At Six setlist staples from sixth studio album VI, songs Straight To My Head and I O U provided some of the biggest sing-a-longs of the evening. “I wanna be where you are, I wanna be where you are/Straight to my head, straight to my/Going straight to my head, going straight to my head” shouts frontman Josh Franceschi, gaining a raucous response of 2,000 strong voices chanting the chorus of Straight To My Head back with pure elation and euphoria.
It wouldn’t be a You Me At Six show without a selection of absolute pop-rock all time bangers to please the old school YMAS fan. Reckless, with the extended live edition featuring an add-on of The Killers’ When You Were Young and the bands breakout hit Underdog generating the most synchronised crowd jumps all in perfect unison, to some of the most rock ready anthems in You Me At Six’s armour.
You Me At Six are a band that you can lean on and rely on to bring the energy every time they step onto any stage at any venue at any gig or festival and the band’s long awaited London headliner represented exactly that.
9/10
Written by: Katie Conway-Flood
