Live: We Were Promised Jetpacks

The 27th of November 2017 — Soup Kitchen

Playing an extremely intimate gig in Soup Kitchen, the Scottish foursome are embarking on their first tour this year. In past years, their touring schedule has been hectic; the band took the last 12 months off to write new music.

It has taken me a while to write this review; my primary complaint with the gig had nothing to do with the band; it was instead an extremely bad audience that left the experience feeling somewhat lacking.  I have to repeat that this isn’t the band. Despite his personal circumstances, frontman Adam John Thompson gave the gig his all, with rousing performances from all the members of the band.

The gig was primarily composed of the aforementioned new music, which featured the band’s trademark sound and energy — dramatic build-ups and powerful sections interspersed with quiet, soulful breaks. I look forward to hearing the music in recorded format.

Playing some of their older music too, with tracks from their amazing 2009 album These Four Walls, the band captured an energy only possible in a live situation — their performance of ‘This is My House, My Home’ took on a whole new meaning, and I heard it in a way far superior to the recorded version.

Adam also did a great job of deflecting a heckler, which, in a space as small as Soup Kitchen, really tends to put a downer on the event, among other questionable behaviour from some of my fellow audience members.

All in all, I wanted to enjoy this gig, and the band put on a performance worthy of a much better audience than the one they got. I don’t think a rating would do them justice.

?/10