WORDS BY PETER GOODBODY / IMAGES WARREN MILLAR
“Nevertheless, The Love In The Air For THE Night Cafe Is A Thing You Can Feel And Touch”
Being from Liverpool and not being that familiar with the The Night Café shows us up as being not cool and not down with the kids. Tonight’s sold out Olympia shows us up as out of the loop. We have actually seen them before, supporting DMAs at the Arena, so there is no doubt they have the pedigree and the clout. As well as, obviously, the draw.
But as we listened to new EP – For Better Days – on the train into town for this gig, we got the distinct impression of a band making perfectly good, albeit somewhat disposable pop songs.
We got there in time for Monks as one of the three supports(apologies to the others, but getting cabs in Liverpool isn’t always a given). There was a cool funk air about their work. Helped by the addition of a tenor trumpet. They seemed nervous at the start of the set in such a big room, but they warmed to it and delivered a cracking 30 minutes. We’ll be back next time we see them on a bill. Superb stuff. We’ve been over-stimulated with gigs recently, the post pandemic calendar getting a bit squashed, but this set was up with some of the best things we’ve seen recently, certainly from a support.
Nevertheless, the love in the air for The Night Cafe is a thing you can feel and touch and Olympia was sold out for this, the band’s home coming.
In some senses, writing a review of this gig is a bit superfluous. Every single person in the room was a massive fan and Night Café could do no wrong as they launched into Finders Keepers and kept going for the rest of the evening.
We probably won’t win any punters and we won’t sway any naysayers. Let’s just say the Olympia was packed and they all loved it.
One slight niggle was the fact the sound had apparently been turned down for the supports, or turned up for The Night Café. It just seems disrespectful.
SET LIST
Intro
Finders Keepers
Felicity
The Way of Mary
Together
Endless Lovers
Breathing In / Turn
Strange Clothes
Take Care
I know (I’m Sure)
Think It Over
Seasons
Addicted
Mixed Signals
FOLLOW THE NIGHT CAFE
FOLLOW MONKS
Warren is a live music and festival photographer based in Cheshire and covers gigs/festivals mostly in the North West of England. He has been photographing live music for over 10 years and has covered major artists and festivals
