I arrived in good time to catch both supports this evening as you never know what undiscovered gems you can discover. The Institutes are a Coventry indie pop band who released their debut album `Colosseums` in 2021 and are gearing up for a second album to be released later this year. A good friend of mine Nigel who is Cov born and bred, came with me tonight and has seen these guys a few times and rates them. Their half hour set was an enjoyable melodic offering which at time brought the sadly missed La`s to mind. `Something Beautiful` was fairly dreamy and `The Mountain Song` which I read is about that feeling of momentum you don’t quite realise you’ve surrendered to was quite anthemic. `Alleyways` was another illusive number while `Trick of The Light` which addresses how we can all have the ability to hide our problems, put on a brave face, when things might not be going as great as they seem was well received. The band left us with what i`m sure was `Inside Out`. I enjoyed my introduction to The Institutes.
A blend of classic indie and modern alternative rock with a “grit and glow” style is how Wolverhampton`s finest The Last Pioneers have been described. They supported The Enemy here at the same venue last November and kick off this evening`s set with the rhythmic bouncing `Save Your Tears` before `Coming For You` with its “whoo whoo” choruses. `Ghost of Me` races along and before the anthemic `People like Us` is shared frontman and guitarist Jack dedicates it to his brother Jay who is their guitar tech and has learnt all the numbers as the singer recently had an op and wasn`t sure if he would be able to play the guitar. The high energy `Set Your Life on Fire` blasts out before this quartet finish with `Dancefloor Diva` a thumping bass and drum led foot thumper about a pretty dangerous female. This was a dynamic thirty minutes of indie rock that nodded it`s hat to both The Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian and the band were for me the perfect support band to ignite this array in anticipation of their hometown heroes.
It`s been an interesting couple of weeks for The Enemy. At the end of April Coventry City football club won the Championship Trophy and the band headlined a celebration of this achievement at The War Memorial Park in front of fifty thousand fans. That was on Monday and tonight Friday here they are back in their spiritual home of HMV Empire in front of over a thousand fanatical devotees. This show was originally planned for February when the band`s fifth studio album `Social Disguises` was released but shelved due to a family medical emergency. The Who`s wonderfully anthemic `Baba O`Riley` is pumped through the pa as the trio of Tom Clarke (vocals/guitar), Andy Hopkins (bass) and Liam Watts (drums) are welcomed home by this rapturous nigh on sold out audience.
The guys kick off with `Aggro` from their debut album along with another three cuts from this release with `Away from Here` which always puts me in mind of The Killers, the tense and pounding `Pressure` alongside a favourite of mine `Had Enough` with the crowd all singing along with the chorus of “What’s the matter with your face, face?”. The fellas share a cut from the latest release with the percussive `Not Going Your Way` before returning back to their debut with the emotive ballad like `Happy Birthday Jane`, the defiant `You`re Not Alone` written about Peugeot’s Coventry factory closing down with the loss of 2,300 jobs the rhythmic `Technodanceaphobic` before closing this half with `40 Days and 40 Nights` which morphs in and out of The Specials `Ghost Town` which in Coventry really hits home.
The band return to the stage with `The Elephant Song which melds into `Trouble` from `Social Disguises` a blazing foot tapper which is a real earworm of a number. The anthemic `Be Somebody` really fires up this multitude again. The home stretch has `Gimme The Sign`, `Somebody`, the meditative `This Song Is About You` which has the faithful fist pumping and singing along, `No Time for Tears` and oddly Queen`s `We are The Champions` which i`m sure was in recognition of the city`s football team`s successful campaign. This eighty minute set closed out with what has become an anthem for fans of the city’s football team The Sky Blues in `We Live or Die In These Towns` which sends the congregation into raptures and that`s it.
I was expecting a few more tracks from `Social Disguises’ as it was the band`s first studio release in ten years and a real return to form but was chuffed with hearing nearly all of `We Live or Die In These Towns` with some other classics and the overwhelming feeling that I came away with was the passion that the band radiated not only towards their fanbase but for the City of Coventry.
The Enemy began their musical journey twenty years ago and it’s a tribute to these guys that they are still together and creating music two decades on. They have a few festival appearances in July and August, are special guests to Ocean Colour Scene in November and December before a massive hometown headline show on 20 March 2027 at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Two decades on and The Enemy are a still a force to be reckoned with.
PHOTOS: NIGEL LATHAM
