The Front Bottoms Reminisce In Nottingham
Published
Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms is packed out long before the early headline stage times. Massive white balloons in the shape of the letters ‘TFB’ are inflated at the back of the stage to join the red roses already decorating the stage; Celine Dion’s Titanic anthem starts to play and only a few seconds later, the band walk out to massive cheers. This cringeworthy, amusing start to The Front Bottoms’ sold out show is the evening’s first nod to the band’s humour and demonstration of their self deprecating nature.
The gig starts with a track from their latest album ‘Laugh Till I Cry’, and already the crowd is moving, singing, jumping. The repeated requests from one audience member to hear ‘Swimming Pool’ were eventually acknowledged, with the song added to the setlist and eliciting a massive response. 2015’s Back On Top is the most featured album of the night, but both previous label releases feature in equal numbers; a well-balanced set that seemed to please everyone.
Tales are told of previous visits to Nottingham-stories of lost virginities, drunken mishaps and alter-egos born and lost that are almost certainly stretching the truth. Less difficult to believe, however, is their general enthusiasm for the city and the shows they’ve played before; it doesn’t take much encouragement from the audience before Sella is chugging a beer to chants of “We like to drink with Brian…” (twice).
The Front Bottoms pack 17 songs into their set, never losing their energy or confidence. There’s a genuine, strong connection between band and audience, which takes what would be a strong performance by the band to a brilliant show, and hopefully it won’t be long before the band return to play a larger venue, giving more of their fans a chance to get a ticket to a solid, fun indie rock show.
COMMENTS
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The person incessantly requesting Swimming Pool might have been a rather drunk friend of mine...
