LIVE REVIEW: INHEAVEN (THE VENUE, 22/3/17)
Although Derby’s music scene not famous or particularly inspiring, it is most definitely on the up. With exciting new bands such as INHEAVEN choosing to add Derby to their tour, it seems stupid to miss out. The four piece ‘alternative rock band from South London’ have been on the scene since releasing first single ‘Regeneration’ in 2015.
After first hearing ‘Bitter Town’ when it came up on my Discover Weekly playlist on sportify in summer last year, I instantly liked the catchy tune and had to find out more about the band. The mixture of female and male lead vocals along with some quality and interesting tunes, makes the band very refreshing as for me they have a unique sound. I couldn’t believe it when they had announced a Derby date on their tour in September 2016, where they played an amazing show along with TRASH and Pale Waves for £3.
Although the crowd wasn’t massive I thought that it was a great gig, and it was great to meet such a lovely and down to earth band. Therefore when the band announced their February 2017 headline tour, I was delighted to see that they had added The Venue in Derby to the dates again. However I was slightly reluctant to book my ticket straight away, as in my opinion £8 is pretty steep for band of the size as themselves. But after travelling to see INHEAVEN in Sheffield in December when my train ticket cost more than the actual gig, it was safe to say that I was willing to part with £8 on this occasion.
On Thursday 22th February 2017, we arrived at the Venue in time to see the first support Starwheel, who are a Derby band. It was really nice to hear some good indie/psychedelic tunes, however the band were acting like they really didn’t want to be there. No enthusiasm, no smiles, and no particular audience interaction. Which for me was a real shame and slightly disappointing as I think they have a lot of potential.
Putting this aside, I was pretty much blown away by the second and main support band FREAK. Freak are a three piece from Essex and they were possibly one of the highlights of my night. They played their own energetic and interesting songs and delivered them with so much confidence and passion, which was wonderful especially after the first act. They also covered an absolute banger ‘Toxic’ by the one and only Britney Spears. It was also really great to get a setlist, free stickers, a T-shirt and to meet them afterwards, such lovely guys.
INHEAVEN came out at 10 and although the crowd was not particularly large, the atmosphere was great. Kicking off their set with ‘All there is’ really got the crowd going and the rest of their set continued with this great standard. During the set, my mate climbed onto stage and got me a setlist (friendship goals) from one of the two front people, which consequently meant he wasn’t sure which song was next.
This was the point when I got asked to read what the next song was from my setlist, which I’m not going to lie was very cool. For every song the crowd was giving it their all and for the final song, which was ‘Regeneration’ the whole crowd climbed on stage and danced with the band. Which was also a sick experience. After the gig the band came and met the audience and sold merch. I got my ticket and setlist signed, and overall had such a cool night, and cannot wait to see them supporting Circa Waves later on this month! If you haven’t listened to or had the opportunity to see INHEAVEN, I would definitely recommend doing so.