Date: 29/03/19
Support: In Her Own Words, Shaded.
Stand Atlantic are on a trajectory to make them the most exciting prospect in Australia’s music scene since Tonight Alive burst onto the scene just over a decade ago. With one EP and now one record under their belts, things have changed a lot since they first entered the UK scene which was just over a year ago! Having already won crowds over and over again performing with the likes of Roam and at the 2018 Slam Dunk Festival, Stand Atlantic has won over so many fans whereas it stands, over half of their tour of the UK is now officially SOLD OUT. Returning to a place, just over the road from where they triumphed on the Rocksound Introducing Stage, can they deliver on their opening night? I’m hoping so.
Opening the show are Shaded, whom with Stand Atlantic I’m seeing for the third time each for tonights show. And open they did beautifully. They’ve been going around the touring circuit for a while now and just getting better every time I see them. Tracks such as ‘Tell Me’ to the more punchier ‘A Familiar Love will help transcend them to their own headline tours of this capacity within time, and hopefully, it’ll only be a matter of time as well. I do think the presence of everyone being there so early helped their case here, because of the crowd response where with this edge, it helped them deliver a solid set.
Up next, In Her Own Words debut UK show. And wow, you don’t get many reactions such as that. From the start of their set, they provide a performance that’s both punchy and energetic where the crowd embrace them straight from the beginning. And for a band that’s come across the shores for the first time, it’s a sight that’s never seen enough. ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Strangers’ were the standouts on the night because I don’t think the crowd had seen anything such as this before where most would come across as lacklustre, but that will never be In Her Own Words and if they’re to come back, (which they should consider doing soon) this crowd better be ready.
Well, Stand Atlantic. I’ve waited nearly a year to see them again and what a tremendous occasion it should be on their opening night of their debut UK headlining tour. And wow, what a way to start it as well! It fully SOLD OUT as well may I add (as has approximately 3/4 of their UK tour at the time of writing) and fully deservingly because these sets, these near perfect sets, are ones you don’t see very often.
Bustling with tremendous energy into tracks from their debut record, ‘Skinny Dipping’, Bullfrog’ and ‘Speak Slow’ were just the taste of what they could do. In fact, I think it was during Speak Slow that the stagedivers actually broke part of Bonnie’s mic stand, in which the band’s photographer had to lend his hands to hold it up until the song was complete. From there, their vocalist did take a few steps back just from the fear of fans hurting themselves by crashing into the stand again. You do have to realise that there were numerous people crashing on their heavier and jumpier tracks, and they did have their wellbeing taken into consideration.
Moving on, what was produced by the band was an energetic, lovely and heartbreaking set nobody could have expected from these up and comers. But careful how you look at those words as when this headlining run finishes and upon their return, they shall not be newcomers anymore, they’ll return with their legion of followers where before long they’ll emulate State Champs, Set It Off and more on the scene in what will be Sold Out shows at (hopefully) at larger capacity venues.
Highlights from their set do have to be their title track of the record, ‘Skinny Dipping’ as it’s both a beautiful track and a showcase of just what Stand Atlantic are capable of on stage to the point of which is asking, what’s next for the band because they’ll break the barrier of what they’ve reached again, with the entirety of ‘Skinny Dipping’. ‘Burn In The Afterthought’ is another which comes to mind again because of the way they’re able to perform it. It’s outside of their usual edgy Pop-Punk repertoire but still, they’ve proven they’re a band who don’t need to settle for the basics of what the genre expects of them and here, whatever they do produce after ‘Skinny Dipping’, it’ll be a continuing mastery of the genre-bending they’ve already beautifully produced. The only track I do wish was played is ‘Clay’, which on the record, Hannah Greenwood of Creeper does provide the guest vocals for, but that’s because I’m being a tiny bit biased as it is a personal favourite track of mine. Who knows? It could appear on their next tour? If you’re wondering if they played anything off their Sidewinder EP, it was everything except Mess I Made. But it’s almost as if they didn’t need to play it tonight as they gave everything to the fans tonight where their raw energy and passion is true. Plus it’s always fun to see them play Chemicals live, just to get into the moshpit itself!
Lastly, I do have to say Stand Atlantic are certainly on a trajectory to play much larger venues after this tour and all I can say that they produced one of the best sets I’ve had the pleasure to watch in recent memory. And, if you’re off to a show on their current UK tour or any in the future, expect things to get mental quickly because if you’re standing still, you’ll get crushed!
Rating: 9/10
Almost Anything Music 