Wigan indie band The Lathums popped along to SWG3 to open their short UK December tour. The bands fanbase is growing rapidly as proved by the upgrade for tonight’s show from the TV studio to the Warehouse, thus allowing more fans to attend with Wargasm being heading to the TV studio part of the venue for the night. The Lathums seem to have done nothing but tour over the last year and they are fresh back from performances in Mexico, Thailand, The Netherlands and Germany in November meaning we were in for a treat.
Scottish band Brogeal were tonight’s opener fresh from their slot supporting Rianne Downey at the same venue the previous weekend as well as touring with Spector. Brogeal are a five piece band from Falkirk and they played a very lively set which can be described as folk music infused with rock. The half hour set included Sunday Morning and Roving Falkirk Bairn, a song about growing up in the Falkirk area of Scotland. Brogeal are gaining a reputation around the UK with their eclectic style of music. 8/10
As Roy Orbison’s Pretty Woman blasts from the speakers and the crowd are singing along, The Lathums take to the stage amid a rapturous applause from the packed out venue. Surprisingly they begin the set with Knotted Bed Of Roses, a track from their number one album this year From Nothing To A Little Bit More, from which they would play nine songs in total. The next one needed no introduction as everyone sang their hearts out to Fight on, by far the most popular Lathums song, it honestly did feel like every person in the room was loving this one as vocalist Alex Moore showed his appreciation between songs with the usual thanks to the audience. We have watched The Lathums mature into one of the best up and coming bands in the UK over the past two years, with the venues getting bigger in line with their fanbase expansion. The Great Escape is a song about time travel with the poignant lyrics ‘John Lennon shouldn’t have died’ at the end of the song. Moore was left to the stage by himself for an acoustic version of All My Life, a number one song, in which the crowd joined him singing every word back, this being the song that Brandon Flowers came out and sang with Moore during their support slow with The Killers last year. There was space for a few older tracks on the setlist with Foolish Parley and I See Your Ghost proving very popular. The band changed the bass player last year with Johnny Cunliffe being replaced by Matty Murphy, who has seamlessly intertwined his bass playing skills to the bands music. Struggle is a song that tugs at the heart strings, written by Moore when he was young it touches on the struggles he had as a child as the lyrics proclaim ‘I struggle remembering your face/I wake up without a smile on my face/I notice the world’s still turning/But I’m stood still’.
The band went to music college together and the guitar playing from Scott Concepcion was outstanding, he is maturing into an excellent guitarist which shone through during the three tracks in the encore. Say My Name was flawless with great cohesion between all band members , while the much loved track Sad Face Baby gave the fans one more chance to sing and boogie; this is one of the bands favourite songs to play live and it showed tonight creating a great band/crowd connection. The night was soon to come to an end with Artificial Screens questioning our use of technology and our addiction to it in the modern world. As The Lathums left the stage to I’m Still Standing by Elton John the crowd had one last sing along to end an outstanding night of music. 10/10
Written By: Alan Brown
