Another hotly tipped quartet from Liverpool, whatever it is in that Merseyside water it certainly creates a continual plethora of talent. Latest post-punk press darlings are Stone and going by this near enough sold-out venue tonight, the word is out. The band have supported both Sam Fender and Yungblud recently and are now out headlining their own shows.
Air raid sirens ring out before Madonna`s `Hung Up` track comes through the pa and the four-piece bounce on stage and steam straight into opening track `I Let Go` with lead singer Finlay Power almost spitting out the lyrics. There`s no let up as the powerful `Keep Running` rings out before the quite hypnotic `Left Right Forward` has this faithful crowd almost in a frenzy. The band offer up with what they call a Stone classic in `Fuse` before they share a couple of new numbers with the pounding, grinding `I’ve Got a Feeling` and drum led `If You Wanna`.
The harmonic `Let’s Dance to the Real Thing`, Money (Hope Ain’t Gone) and `Stupid` fill the mid space. There was a really emotional time out as Finlay shares the wonderfully introspective `Save Yourself` a song written about the singer`s grandfather and mentor who was `a working-class hero` to him, taught him guitar and sadly passed away from pancreatic cancer last year. I`m sure his grandad would be immensely proud.
The show closes with `Waste` as the singer surfs this packed crowd and the rest of the band Alex Smith, Elliot Gill and Sarah Surrage leave us with a kind of psychedelic jam come mash up. “One more Song” then “two more and finally four more songs” is chanted as the band return for the encore.
A compromise is reached, and we enjoy two more numbers with the sort of crossover nigh on techno `Moto` and conversational `Leave It Out` and that closes out this one hour energetic and highly charged performance.
There was so much to enjoy in this, at times swaggering show from a band that rightly have a self-belief. I`d love to say that they`ll be playing stadiums next time but bands I seem to select tend to fall by the wayside, but Stone certainly have something about them and if there`s any justice they`ll be playing much larger venues next time around.
