It’s a rainy Thursday night in Southsea, and the Blitz Kids are the first of two support acts for We The Kings. As the doors open at 8pm, me and my lovely +1 arrive at the Wedge at 8:25, ready to grab a cider and watch the band. Damnably, the Wedge has decided on a ‘doors at 8, band on at 8:20′ approach to the evening, meaning that I completely missed the first song. Sorry about that. However, you will be glad to know that despite beginning the evening with that little mishap, I managed to see the rest of the Blitz Kids set – and it was dead good!
Now, I like my rock bands to look like rock bands, and this whole scene that’s going on at the moment with trendy buttoned up boys (you know who you are Anberlin and Twin Atlantic) playing heavy music just doesn’t make sense to me. So, when I looked at Blitz Kids and the singer was wearing what I considered to be entirely too deep a V-neck, I thought ‘this isn’t going to be my thing’. I was pleasantly surprised, however, by a stage presence that entirely overshadowed the appearance. This band know how to work a crowd.
Their excellent brand of chunky/jangly/emo music is really easy to listen to, and once you’ve started to listen, you find yourself enjoying it. A lot. The band effortlessly brought a great atmosphere with their bouncy bass and rowdy tunes, and at points there were outbreaks of spontaneous pogoing – no mean feat when you’re the first band on of three.
Plenty of the crowd knew the songs, the band’s enthusiasm was infectious, and they turned in a slick and polished performance.
All in all (until ‘Natives’ came on and ruined it) this was a top gig. ‘Warrior’ was my personal highlight, an excellent weighty beast of a tune, and I’m very much looking forward to hearing more from these guys. As the singer proclaimed ‘This is the start of something very special’. I’m certainly hoping so.