After a festival season to be envious of, one of 2016’s most hyped bands Spring King took to the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth on their biggest headline tour to date. The first time I saw Spring King was roughly a year ago supporting Slaves just down the road at the Portsmouth Pyramids; a lot has happened since then for the Mancunian four-piece.
The evening set off as it meant to continue with local support Veludo Planes storming through a set of fast-paced raw indie tracks. This support slot happened to be my 4th time seeing Veludo Planes, and they continue to get better and better each time, with the likes of Wicker Man and latest single Lonesick Lullaby having an outing. However, the standout track had to be set opener The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which in all honesty sounds like it’s set for much bigger things than the modestly sized venue on a Tuesday night.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYcH7g3VTmo&w=720&h=422]
Up next were Nottingham trio Kagoule – another newly hyped band on a much appreciated trip to the south coast. Providing their signature math-rock grunge-esque sound, we were treated to a handful of album tracks including the mesmerising and atmospheric Made of Concrete, the hard-hitting Glue, merciless Gush and vicious Adjust The Way. Kagoule were on top form, and quite frankly gave Spring King a run for their money.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tv2l4ilSsMk&w=720&h=422]
Before Spring King rocked up on stage, the crowd remained pretty much static … though this all shifted as the rattling beginning of Better Man soared through the speakers of the venue. With the crowd screaming the lyrics back at the band like their life depended on it, and the band playing with a zeal ready to rip the roof off the venue, it’s hard not to get why so much hype has built up around them over the past couple of months.
Spring King proceeded to run through surf-tinted tracks like Detroit, Demons, and Can I? before running straight into The Summer. Leaving the scrambling fans barely any chance to catch their breath, the band settled for the duo of Take Me Away and It’s So Dark before finding a new lease of life as their most commercial track City muscled its way in mid-set.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dE1JT93G-L0&w=720&h=422]
At this point the Wedgewood Rooms had descended into a frenzy with everything hitting a peak with the triple hit of Who Are You?, They’re Coming After You (no pun intended), and Mumma.
Ending an amalgamation of crazy surf-punk and slower dreamier tracks, Spring King set the record straight with a shattering rendition of Rectifier, dismissing any chance of being just another hyped up indie band.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yONyEewXraU&w=720&h=422]
From packing out the miniscule Lennon’s Nightclub in Southampton just over 6 months ago, this headline set in rival city Portsmouth was a big jump up but one that was handled with ease in a completely galvanising set.
It’s only onwards and upwards for Spring King.
Words by Jasmin Robinson