THE FRONT ROW

It was a dank, blustery March night in Liverpool, the sort of night that gives some people the blues. Doctors prescribe a fresh fruit diet, and the use of daylight-bulb lamps to those individuals. Well I believe that G.P.s should be prescribing a good dose of Keyside to them instead. The performance of jangly, bright and shiny song’s by this Liverpool fourpiece contained more than enough sunshine to fulfil your daily Vitamin D quota; and with their effervescent, juicy guitar riffs you could nearly overdose on Vitamin C.

Kicking-off proceedings at an already busy Arts Club Loft was curly-maned, Mancunian prodigy Alex Spencer. Alex started busking on the rainy streets of Manchester at the age of twelve. I previously saw him open the second day of Liverpool Sound City 2023 with an impressive, solo, acoustic set, but here, now at the ripe old age of seventeen, Spencer was backed by an equally youthful looking band.

His ‘coming of age’ songs like Love And Let Go and One Step Forward brimmed with infectious guitar riffs, and were sprinkled with sparkling keyboards. It’s no wonder he has caught the eye of artists like Jamie Webster and Miles Kane who have afforded him support slots on their tours.

East Exchange were a new band to me, but as a gig-going friend of mine said of them on the night, ‘I’d watch them again’. You could probably class this band’s sound as Alt Rock, being built round layered, ubiquitous guitar riffs, played over thunderous percussion provided by a drummer with a John Bonham fixation. He didn’t beat the drums, he gave them a damn good thrashing. And when he was done, he thrashed them again.

The majority of their set revolved around songs from their debut EP which included the title track Revalation – McVice, Monica and concluded with Four. Also included in an enjoyable set, played to a heathy sized crowd was a funkier, as yet unnamed song, and a more than decent cover of The Kings of Leon’s Molly’s Chambers.

Keyside entered the stage to a now packed auditorium to the walk-on sounds of a radio being tuned-in and skipping through songs by artists that have influenced the band – The Smiths, The Police, and The Coral. You’ve seen it done a thousand times before, but in Keyside’s youthful hands it didn’t seem cliched, it was disarming and endearing, and created a sense of anticipation amongst the crowd.

Keyside are Dan Parker (vocals/acoustic guitar), Ben Cassidy (lead guitar), Oisin McAvoy (drums), and Max Gibson (bass/backing vocals). They took their places on stage, looked out over a capacity crowd in the Arts Club Loft (surely the greatest number of people who have turned up just for them), appeared completely at ease with the situation, and proceeded to play a dazzling set of soulful, jangly, glistening, indie rock tunes.

The band opened with the joyful sounding Angeline, a song resplendent with honeyed guitars and soaring vocals, that brought to mind the work of Scott Concepcion and Alex Moore of The Lathums. Next up was Take A Ride, before the band were joined on stage by Liverpool singer/songwriter Fiona Lennon who provided backing vocals on Nikita – an atmospheric song about the plight of a young girl who’s mum goes out to regularly score drugs.

There then followed another new song, again an up-beat janglefest entitled Broken Bottles. At the end of the song, singer Dan Parker took the opportunity to introduce the band members to the crowd in a charming, innocent, Jimmy Rabbitte in The Commitments style ‘To my right, king of the fretboard – Mr Ben Cassidy’.

Turn Back Time did what it said on the tin, as the band played a crooning ballad which had an authentic 1950’s feel to it. Keyside brought their hometown, headline show to a triumphant conclusion with their debut single Lights Out, and their most anthemic tune to-date, the clap-a-long, sing-a-long Paris to Marseille.

Go see Keyside, leave your umbrella at home, but take your shades and prepare to be dazzled.

Ian Dunphy.