Nothing But Thieves are a massively successful alternative rock quintet from Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England, comprised of Conor Mason, Joe Langridge-Brown, Dominic Craik, Philip Blake and James Price. This O2 Arena gig was, geographically, as close to a homecoming gig as the band is going to get on this tour, and the almost-capacity, hyped-up and loved-up crowd greeted them like returning conquering heroes.
They opened with ‘Futureproof ‘from their Moral Panic II EP, which was released on the back of the hugely successful Moral Panic album released in October 2020. From the opening bars the entire crowd rose up and immersed themselves completely into the band’s sound and vision. The mosh pit was fully up and running by song two, ‘Real Love Song’, and by song three, ‘I Was Just a Kid’, the ecstasy and word-for-word ‘singing’ from the crowd had compensated for the weaker sound for which the O2 is sometimes known.
The band just rode this wave of love; giving a performance worthy of such a voraciously expectant audience. Vocalist Conor Mason’s voice is front and centre of this live performance. The whole band are tight and very much more than competent, but Mason’s operatic soaring vocal, that is also at times desperate and dark, is such a perfect vehicle for the band’s challenging and hard hitting lyrics. He becomes very much the focus of this gig. That and his attention-grabbing stage clothes!
This was a loud, triumphant and perfectly executed gig from a band who are about to achieve world domination.
Review by Samantha Mills
Nothing But Thieves:
Conor Mason – lead vocals, guitars
Joe Langridge-Brown – guitars, backing vocals
Dominic Craik – guitars, keyboard, piano, backing vocals
Philip Blake – bass guitar
James Price – drums, drum machine
Setlist:
1.) Futureproof
2.) Real Love Song
3.) I Was Just a Kid
4.) Trip Switch
5.) Soda
6.) Itch
7.) Sorry
8.) Interlude / Guitar Solo
9.) Forever and Ever More
10.) Miracle, Baby
11.) Graveyard Whistling
12.) Unperson
13.) Phobia
14.) Particles (Acoustic)
15.) Your Blood
16.) Is Everybody Going Crazy?
17.) Amsterdam
18.) I’m Not Made by Design
19.) Impossible
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