Lonely the Brave are supposedly “one of the most exciting newcomers in the UK at the moment”… I’ll admit, the Cambridge quintet do seem appealing on their album, which is laced with anthemic qualities  you’d would expect to go down a treat live. Nope. It’s an entirely different story.

Every song seemed to blend into one another; if my concentration slipped for even a fraction of a second I was lost. It is difficult to distinguish where one song ends and the next starts. ‘Black Saucers’ seemed to be the only song that managed to grab my attention, but not for too long.

Their live performance is a bit… ordinary. Lead vocalist David Jakes hides behind the band, timidly clasping his shirt while narrowly avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room, the rest of the band included. But he does have an incredible voice, powerful with the potential to ooze with passion. It’s just as if he doesn’t quite have the confidence to step up to the demanding role of front man.The fact that he is so awkward on stage put me on edge. I felt like the crowd had to avoid making eye contact with him as he made it seem almost painful to look back at them.

Front man duties have therefore been left to guitarist Mark Trotter, who seemed to be more concerned with parading around the stage whilst miming the vocals, than actually playing, and it definitely showed. It was as if he was the only member that actually wanted to be there. A bit like that 6th form band that nobody wants to see, but who end up playing in every school concert regardless. So you can understand why I was amazed to discover that the gig was actually sold out.

There must have been some sort of mirage down at the front, because the front two rows seemed to be having an entirely different experience to me. They were all singing along to every single word of ‘Victory Line’ and ‘Back roads’, as if what they were experiencing was nothing short of euphoric. My experience, however, was far from it. There were an awful lot of people (even the guy selling merch) that looked like they were ready to hit the hay about three songs in.

Abbi Parcell

@abbilennon