WORDS AND IMAGES GAVIN WILLIAMS
‘Misery Never Goes Out of Style. The Creeper Cult Descends on Rock City’
Creeper are a cult. Don’t take it from me. Take it from the band themselves and the thousands of people who’ve turned up to Nottingham’s Rock City on this chilly Wednesday night. Before we get to the main event there’s our two support bands to get the ball rolling.
First up are South Wales band The Nightmares. Citing The Cure, Placebo, and Interpol among their influences it’s no surprise to see a keyboard adorning black roses and a set list tinged with gothic indie tones.
The 5-piece from Newport showcase a set that’s confident and capable, but their overall presence is one of indifference. It’s often a fine line to tread between cool aloofness and looking like you don’t want to be somewhere and I’m not sure which way The Nightmares landed tonight.
After a short changeover New Jersey’s own ‘Save Face’ hit the stage. Ablaze with their uniform orange jumpsuits, SF are an emo punk firework. Their song titles fit the schlock horror vibe of tonight’s show perfectly, but their lyrics hit a more personal tone. The 4-way vocals and live energy of the band tells you these guys know what they’re doing.
Frontman, Tyler Povanda is a dynamo and uses up every inch of the stage. At times he’s wiry and lurching and others he’s flamboyant and upbeat, like a cross between Letlive’s Jason Aalon Butler and falsetto pop icon, Mika. He commands the energy of the crowd for the entire set which focused most of its material from 2021’s ‘Another Kill for the Highlight Reel’, which celebrated its 2-year anniversary last week. In dedicating a song to “being gay in a world that wants you dead,” Povanda spoke and sang most passionately, and the crowd responded with heart. It’s safe to say SF left town with plenty of new fans tonight.
Which leaves us with tonight’s headline act, Creeper. The Southampton band have evolved significantly from their AFI-adoring early days to the present’s more mature multi-faceted sound. The band has gone through multiple line-up changes over the years, but the current showing is their most cohesive and accomplished yet.
Whereas our two opening acts showed to play a gig, Creeper came to deliver an experience. Every aspect of the show is curated and planned to deliver one of the most enjoyable live experiences I’ve witnessed in a very long time.
As their road crew take to the stage the crowd are greeted by the foreboding tones of a hammer horror voiceover telling the blackened audience to run for their lives and counting down from 30 to 15 to 5 minutes until everyone’s favourite band takes to the stage. The anticipation and excitement in the room is palpable.
With some lighting strobe flashes Creeper charge out and never look back. Opening with new epic ‘Further Than Forever’ the band uniformly clad in black leather, denim, and Dr Martens, show instant faith in the quality of their new material. Whilst new album ‘Sanguivore’ leads us down a different sonic avenue it maintains the core of what Creeper are about and the new songs which bookend the 19-song set blend perfectly with their older material. Leading man, Will Gould is more than just a singer, he’s an outright performer who manages to both command and endear the crowd.
Keyboardist/vocalist Hannah Greenwood adds a different dynamic with her own charm. Most noticeably when taking front and centre for an acoustic rendition of their gothic country breakup song, ‘Crickets’. It’s a shift in pace that brings the first half of the set, which also featured early fan-favourite, ‘VCR’ to a low-key conclusion. Shortly afterwards, Gould and the rest of band spring back to the stage and launch into the double whammy of Creeper classics, ‘Cyanide’ and ‘Annabelle’.
Southampton’s cult leaders close off the show with the emotive ‘Misery’ and latest single ‘Cry to Heaven’. The former being led by the rapturous singalong of Rock City’s faithful, leaving the band looking overwhelmed and visibly smiling from ear to ear even through their darkly curated makeup.
Tonight, the stars aligned, and Creeper didn’t put a foot wrong. The diverse crowd were rewarded with a perfectly paced and perfectly delivered setlist by one of the UK’s most exciting live bands.
As the Sacred Blasphemy tour leaves Nottingham, the Creeper cult can sleep peacefully (in their coffins) knowing they’ve been a part of something very special tonight. 10/10
SET LIST
1/ FURTHER THAN FOREVER
2/ ROOM 309
3/ TEENAGE SACRIFICE
4/ BLACK RAIN
5/ SACRED BLASPHEMY
6/ VCR
7/ THE BALLAD OF SPOOK & MERCY
8/ BLACK HEAVEN
9/ CRICKETS
10/ CYANIDE
11/ ANNABELLE
12/ GHOST BRIGADE
13/ I CHOOSE TO LIVE
14/ LOVERS LED ASTRAY
15/ DRUM SOLO
16/ DOWN BELOW
17/ CHAPEL GATES
18/ HIDING WITH BOYS
19/ MISERY
FOLLOW CREEPER
FOLLOW SAVE FACE
FOLLOW THE NIGHTMARES
My life is a soundtrack, i track my life through music, photography is my passion, my escape, my expression. Without both i have pieces missing, thankfully i’m blessed and get to combine both.
Born in Manchester, lived in Australia for 22 years where i was heavily involved in the Australian Music Industry, firstly in bands (Singer) and then managing bands (all original), I moved back to the UK, Wales specifically 10 years ago
