Woah.
On 8th May 2012, my
three friends and I went to see Nothing But Thieves' showcase concert at
Upstairs at the Garage in Islington, London (to find out more about the band,
see my previous article). My 'woah' was aimed at the whole experience; I said 'woah' about Conor's voice, 'woah'
about the petite yet delightful venue and 'woah' about the new songs that the
band wrote themselves. I shall start at the beginning...
We arrived inside the venue about quarter of an hour before
Nothing But Thieves were due to play. Including them, there was two opening
acts for the headliners Mini Mansions but we only really went to see NBT. The
venue only holds 150 people but the age range of people there was very mixed
and it was a good size to be close to the band but still have a buzzing
atmosphere. The band came on stage on time which was an impressive start and immediately
made the audience feel welcomed. Conor's voice exceeded my expectations and
sounded just as incredible live as on YouTube. I know it is a controversial
subject, but in my honest opinion he sings better than a lot of millionaire
artists in the charts at the moment. It was the first concert I have been to in
a long time where I have not known all of the words to every song, but this did
not make it uncomfortable as we all enjoyed listening to the lyrics and paying
attention to their voices instead of a huge crowd's screaming/ singing. The
first couple of songs were mid-tempo and had aspects that reminded me of bands
such as Kings of Leon and One Republic. They introduced the song 'Candles' by
explaining that it means a lot to them as is about a death of a loved one. The
emotion definitely came across in the slow, endearing song that made me go
cold, in the best way possible. Conor got caught up in the moment and messed up
a high note a bit, and later apologised by saying 'I’m sorry a cat died in the
middle of that', but in no way did his slight slip take away the focus from how
talented he, and the whole band, are. Needless to say, we were very forgiving.
They ended their set with their single 'To Fly You've Got To Fall'. I liked how
they mixed up the introduction by rocking out a bit and I admit it was fun to
have a sing-a-long myself as I am very familiar with the words (that is a repercussion
of having it on replay for the past couple of weeks). For the majority of the
show, Dave was on drums, Joe was on guitar and Dom swapped between keyboard and
guitar. The phrase 'left me wanting more' is one hundred per cent true in this
case, which was the up-side of them only doing five songs. After the set, I saw
Conor and asked about doing an interview for this site and he gathered the
others. I felt a bit bad interrupting them but if there is one thing I can say
about these boys, it is that they are so nice to talk to and are all very
funny. We went outside to do the interview and it was a blast; the band were
cracking jokes and making us all laugh. I had such a good time and I hope they
did too. Afterwards, we took pictures and made sure we told them what an
amazing night we had. They are so sweet and I am really looking forward to
seeing them and meeting them again hopefully, I wish them all the best for the
future and hope they get signed soon. If their performance is anything to go
by, their album will be sensational. Keep checking back to this site to see the
interview which I will be posting very soon and in the meantime check out To
Fly You've Got To Fall and comment or tweet me what you think. Again, my thanks
go to Nothing But Thieves for a night I will never forget. 
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