By Scott Reid
It was a dark and muggy September night when I ventured down to Retro Bar for a jam-packed night of music. Little Thief have commenced their UK tour, and have brought along some exciting acts along with them.
The first set of the night was by Bolton four-piece Fill the Blank. The band gave off youthful indie vibes, clearly inspired by the early 2010s indie they would’ve grown up with. Each song sounded different yet somewhat alike and inspired by a common source. The band effectively mixed powerful guitar chords with passionate and excitable vocals. Both the bass guitar and electric guitar complimented each other neatly. The boys have already got showmanship under their belts; their swagger on stage combined with their crowd awareness and attire displayed quintessentially indie. The Northern twang of them emitted an early Arctic Monkeys vibe (think Favourite Worst Nightmare). Throughout their set, they were great at building up before giving a fantastic payoff. These lads are some lads who you should keep an eye out for!
The second band of the night couldn’t have been much different genre-wise, yet they were still fantastic. Footlight District are a five-piece sibling-based band hailing from Chicago. Described as combining classic rock, blues, soul and gospel, they were a massive surprise. Debuting on their first UK tour, they certainly brought American rock ‘n’ roll to Retro that night. From the get go, I got major Joan Jett energy from the group, as they rocked away. Throughout the performance, there was a continuous emittance of bad-bitch energy from the band themselves. The swapping of male to female vocals mixed perfectly and gave a big hint of variation to the performance. A particular highlight was the pure spectacle of watching the siblings enjoying themselves while performing.
The main act itself was fantastic. Hailing from Bristol, the couple consisting of Charlie Fitzgerald and Rhii Williams brought a unique vibe. You could hear the clear passion in Charlie’s voice as he sang. Their mixture of bluesy vocals, loud drums, and rhythmic guitars. There was clear emotion during their performance, and much like Footlight District, watching this couple is extremely enjoyable. And to make the performance even better, they seemed to genuinely enjoy performing with one another. There was a clear variation between each song, yet the songs flowed and came together beautifully. Little Thief has frequently been compared to Queens of the Stone Age, and I can see why: they were fantastically funky and slightly edgy. Despite the low crowd numbers, they were playing as if there were 10,000 people there. And the crowd was just as receptive. I was most surprised by their cover of Beastie Boys Right To Party, and this certainly made the crowd party even harder. Despite being a two-person band, they carried the energy of a five-person band. In 3 words, they were loud, raucous, and edgy.
Everyone at Our Sound Music wants to send our congratulations to Charlie and Rhii on their recent engagement.