As the support acts played and the venue began to fill up it was obvious that there a lot of positive energy in the room. There was the constant sound of voices chatting and laughing in the background as we waited for EofE to hit the stage; before the set had even began the room was buzzing. At around quarter to nine EofE attacked the stage, in full force. It was the first time I had seen Reece with the band and I wasn't sure about how he would fit in with the group, however instantly I could see that he has slotted in just fine with the others, and looked like he belonged there. Being a 5 piece band on only a small stage, it goes without saying that they owned the stage, however as they opened with their single "Lust" they demonstrated that they were going to own the stage all night, and not just because they could only just fit on it. The lighting of the stage was simple yet in line with the style of the band, not over the top, yet striking and effective. Constant flashes of white light filled the stage, sometimes creating a strobe effect, as the band powered through their set.
From the very start of the set it was obvious how pleased they were with the fact that they had filled the venue with their fans, family and friends. This mood radiated across the audience who sang, danced and just had a great time with them. Tom frequently jumped up onto a box which allowed him to engage the back of the room, and jumped down to allow members of the audience to be right next to him, and rock along with him. The other members stepped forward to take their place on the very edge of the stage, clearly showing that they wanted us to be just as involved in their show as they were. However, what stood out to me was not only how well they interacted with the audience, but also how well they interacted with each other during their performance. In my opinion communication between players is key to a good performance, therefore the fact that they were able to run around and give each other little looks and pose with each other on stage not only added to their tight playing but also showed again how much they were enjoying themselves together, which generally makes for a more positive atmosphere.
The setlist consisted of both previously released singles, new songs and covers making it exciting and interesting throughout. The new songs were scattered throughout the setlist keeping us on the ball as we were constantly thrown between knowing all the words and belting them out and not knowing the words but being keen to hear the new music. The covers consisted of Fall Out Boy - Sugar, We're Goin Down, Adele's Rolling In The Deep, everyones favourite mash up of Billie Jean and Smells Like Teen Spirit and Buck Rogers. These covers mostly provided a lot of singing along to familiar songs and dancing, but the addition of the Adele covered brought the tempo down. Rolling In The Deep was performed just by Dan and Tom as the others left the stage. This allowed lead singer Tom to demonstrate his vocal range while Dan accompanied him.
All in all the show was an amazing one, and I really really did have a good time, sometimes I find the best gigs come from the smallest venues. The show demonstrated that EofE are capable of owning their own crowd, and that they have the potential to go on to do more and more successful shows.
