LIVE: Catfish and The Bottlemen, Brighton Centre, 02.05.19

It has been a long 3 years since Catfish and The Bottlemen last passed through Brighton, gearing up to the release of their second album ‘The Ride’. This time around they had sold out Brighton Centre on their latest arena tour, promoting the release of their new album ‘The Balance’, with their heavy instrumental outros and outstanding production.

Supporting Catfish were Scottish rock band, Twin Atlantic. The band previously supported the band earlier this year and absolutely stepped up to the mantle of being an arena band. Despite the lead singer explaining he was out of fitness since they’ve been recording a new album, it didn’t seem to hold the band back from warming up the crowd, with an energetic set featuring hits like ‘Heart and Soul’ and ‘Brothers and sisters’. This next album could take the band from arena support to arena headline if they continue like this.

It was time for Catfish and the Bottlemen after this. The excitement was built by the playing of Ricky Martin’s “Ain’t that a kick in the head” and The Beatles “Helter Skelter”, which has become the mainstay introduction for the band. The band arrive to rapturous applause and screaming from the adoring fans waiting to be entertained. The atmosphere was fantastic throughout the night. Every single fan that packed into the Arena belted out the words to each song.

The Welsh four-piece had a perfectly orchestrated set featuring a mixture of their back catalogue like ‘Homesick’ & ‘Kathleen’, from their debut album, to brand new tracks such as ‘Conversation’ and ‘2all’. Catfish and the Bottlemen also proved themselves to sound just as strong when they strip it back to basics, with a quick acoustic performance of Hourglass, that had everyone in the arena singing along.

The whole night was a crazy blur of singing, moshing and adrenaline. The set raced to a close with a big ending of ‘Tyrants’ the energy and enthusiasm of the performance did not falter one bit. This moment was evident when McCann seemingly refused to leave the stage; as he paraded around the lighting setup around the stage like he owned the world. Sell out shows are now the norm for Catfish and the Bottlemen and I’m excited for the next chapter in their story.

 

Billy Fitzjohn

Billy Fitzjohn

Billy Fitzjohn

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