Oh No (I Think I’m In Love) … with Blossoms! The sprightly indie quintet first built their cult following at The Chameleon ten years ago and now culminate their sound at the infamous Rock City. Welcome to the stage…
BLOSSOMS
Their setlist is almost an all-encompassing greatest hits set, and it’s lovely to see a massive turnout for Red Rum Club. It’s not just a set; it’s a release, every guitar crunch and pulse brimming with intensity, and they’re suavely punchy in their delivery. This is a band that knows who and they are and what they’re doing.
As the crowd is blissfully singing away to The Human League, their cries of “Don’t you want me, baby? Don’t you want me…” quickly turn from varying tunefuls of ‘Ooo-ohs’ to unanimous screams of ‘AAAHHS!’ once the band enters the stage. They’re languid in their demeanour; hands full of beer bottles, charismatic waves thrown to the audience. It’s a welcome rendezvous tonight, kicking things off pleasantly with Your Girlfriend.
Pleasantly riotous we are. Their dewy-eyed keyboard-driven bouncing pop has Rock City reciprocating loyal and loud for Blossoms. Bellowing every line of Oh No (I Think I’m In Love) — microphone angled towards the crowd for the chorus has vocalist Tom Ogden bashful; “Aw shucks, stop it you lot!” — and even yelling along with the instrumental bits of I Can’t Stand It. Ogden doesn’t bother actually singing the first verses of various tunes tonight, knowing the crowd will sing it for him. Sonically, the musicians are almost inaudible at times and it’s more like hearing a pub full of people singing to a jukebox.
“We’ve been coming to Nottingham for ten years and it’s still one of our favourite place to play!”
Framed by a singular spotlight and epiphanous in its nature, If You Think This Is Real Life witnesses the band acoustically centered around the drum kit, all tapping to various speakers and hi-hats like that of a skiffle band. It adds to the pizazz of their indie interludes. Regaling tales of who or what inspired the newer tracks has the audience shouting out “Was it Gary?” without fail, until the pinnacle touring track begins. Gary himself didn’t make an appearance, but it’s hard to imagine the fiberglass statue fitting on stage amidst the extended band and recording equipment.
The hits continuously flowed like a high-tide stream and we were caught up within the waves of wonder. Instrumental intercepts of Half The World Away and You’re Gorgeous disguised a brief interlude ahead of an anticipated encore – fans once again caught off-guard in their singing as Blossoms cemented their indie-glazed reign upon the scene with their infamous (if we can even more so) hits of There’s A Reason Why (I Never Returned Your Calls) and Charlemange.
It seems the rivers always do flow tears of gold from the eyes of this dedicated fanbase, no less. Running through a setlist of greatest hits and pooling at the band’s feet, we were left with a night of pure, unadulterated love.
BLOSSOMS PERFORMED WEDNESDAY 23RD OCTOBER
WORDS: TALIA ROBINSON
ROCK CITY NOTTINGHAM
We’re not only Nottingham’s favourite venue and nightclub – we’re the UK’s best live venue with a rich history of performers that have played here. We would definitely return Blossom’s call to play back here again!
Also while you’re at it, why not check out our gig guide and see if any other of your favourite artists like Blossoms are playing soon! We also have our club nights on a Thursday (Tuned), Friday (Get Lucky) and Saturday (Rebel Rebel) so check those out too!
RELATED: PALE WAVES LIVE
