Live Review

We Are The Ocean – Joiners, Southampton

• 13th Oct 2010

We Are The Ocean’s first show on tour hits Joiners, Southampton’s most popular gig venue. It’s small, but holds a good atmosphere and tonight’s sell out show seemed packed full of school kids who looked like they’d been allowed to stay out past curfew just to catch the London mob perform.

Hertfordshire quintet Proceed open the show, but sadly the crowd just isn’t feeling it tonight. Even I who has enjoyed them in the past was a little disappointed. It’s evident the band has grown into a more mature sound, paying greater attention to the technicalities of the music and effectively focusing on defining their sound since I last saw them a year ago. This new direction is apparent in songs like “Melancholy Monday” and “Visual Field,” where the tracks are driven entirely by Dan Lancaster’s voice – A voice that is so strong, attractive and charming, it’s makes them so easy to listen to, and yet I think this was the problem. Having a crowd full of We Are The Ocean fans, I felt that Proceed were a little too calm and chilled to win people over. Gone are the days when keyboardist Adam Faires used to jump around in the crowd screaming furiously in people’s faces. They’ve moved on a lot since then, but I feel the old style might have faired a little better for this particular crowd of heavy listeners.

Next up were Chickenhawk who completely stormed the stage with such velocity and energy. How they could keep up such a high momentum throughout is just shocking. Fuelled with such raw and dynamic vocals, the members vigorously attacked their instruments producing a sound that was just the perfect chaos. This was exactly what the audience needed to get in the mood for the headlining act. For me, the star of the set was guitarist Robert James Stephens. His level of talent was impeccable. I’ve never seen anyone shred so quickly, his fingers moved so fast it seemed virtually impossible. Songs like “My Name Is Egg” and “Scorpieau” got every part of your body moving to the beat whether you liked it or not. After such a thrilling performance, these are definitely ones to keep a close eye.

But it was We Are The Ocean who everyone was here to see and they didn’t disappoint. Packed into a tiny space in 30 degree heat was unbearable, but with the sound of We Are The Ocean playing in your ears you couldn’t really complain. It’s performances like this that prove why they have managed to get a foot in the door of the music industry so quickly. The soothing and powerful vocals from Liam Cromby compliment those destructive screams of Dan Brown so well. They picked a great selection of songs, some new and some old classics like “Don’t Be Careless” and “(I’ve Never Felt This) God Damn Good” which hold such huge choruses they had the crowd singing along to every word. A memorable moment had to be Liam alone on stage singing “Confessions” unaccompanied with the help from the audience. When so many voices come together it just sounds so magical and it allowed the crowd to catch their breath back for a minute or two before the boys treated us to “Save Me! Said The Saviour” a song they haven’t sung in a year. This really set the crowd on fire and everyone left the venue a sweaty mess having witnessed such an exhilarating set. Southampton set the bar, and it’s now up to the We Are The Ocean lads to continue causing havoc across the UK and Europe.

Their new deluxe album edition is out on Monday 4th October, so check it out for some new material along with some of the old school favourites that are rarely heard.