Friday 22^nd November 2019

By Thomas Muckian

The Amazons brought their fierce Rock and Roll attitude to the capital last Friday in front of an excitable crowd at Brixton Academy.

If these guys had been around years ago, they would’ve been the best thing since… well they would’ve been sliced bread. The Amazons bring classic rock to the forefront of the indie scene. With the release of their second album ‘Future Dust’ their setlisthas grown and evolved, full of massive guitar riffs and top class drumming.

The opening track ‘Fuzzy Tree’ kicked off the night with a great reception. With a thumping rhythm section and catchy vocal melodies galore, the band had the crowd in the palm of their hand. The start of the set also saw the band perform ‘Mother’, the first single from ‘Future Dust’. ‘Mother’ a track, which for me, epitomises everything The Amazons are about, was my personal highlight of the show; perhaps due to it being my favourite song from the discography but none the less the performance of it alone was outstanding. You can always tell when a band gets tired of playing the same songs; sometimes losing passion for what they once loved, but The Amazons, they love every minute of it and rightly so.

Often at an Amazons gig you can expect a little cover as a cherry on top of the rock and roll cake, but they really took the biscuit this time. Not one, not two, not three, four! All back to back, and the thing is; I loved it. Helter Skelter, 20th Century Boy, Iron Man and Bulls on Parade all sandwiched between two halves of Little Something. I don’t think I’ve seen a better ending prior to the encore, with each track I could see people around me getting more and more excited to the point where they had an Indie Rock crowd head banging to Black Sabbath. Only The Amazons.

With a new tour brings some changes to the bands normal set up. The guys introduced a supporting rhythm guitarist often only playing acoustic on most of the ‘Future Dust’ songs and disappearing for those off their debut. Another notable new addition came in the form of two female backing singers which definitely helped elevate the overall sound and round off the stage show. 

The new additions all mean one thing for me though- this is no longer a plucky rock band from Reading, they mean business. 

I expect very big things from these four, we’ve all read lists of future festival headliners but I see no reason why The Amazons can’t and won’t.