By Hannah Ross
South Arcade are making waves right now, with a slew of dates across the ÜK, Europe and America and some notable support slots (looking at you Bilmuri) – not to mention their biggest headline tour to date. For a band that has only been on the scene for a few years it’s mad to see how quick they’ve grown.
The night starts off with Hannah Grae, who has replaced her usual outfit of musicians in favour of performing acoustically, just herself and her guitarist. They’re an unconventional support act for a band as intense as South Arcade, but Hannah’s punchy and melodious songs seem to make it work. She’s a very confident singer with a great vocal range, and her songs are full of catchy hooks and discerningly clever lyrics about past relationship misadventures. It’s not really my thing if I’m honest but it’s a very chill and authentic start to the evening and the crowd seem to dig it.
Leap comes on after to wake us all up a bit, with frontman Jack Scott dancing across the stage and flashing the crowd toothy grins. Again, another slightly unusual support as Leap leans into the slightly more indie side of alt rock. They quickly get the crowd going with their infectious energy and charm, and Jack seems keen to be remembered tonight – reaching out to the crowd and just being charismatic as hell. They remind me of a younger Catfish And The Bottlemen, and I can definitely see them being put on at festivals this summer.
After Leap leaves the stage someone at the front starts handing out foam hands, and they get passed through the crowd. I have to say that this Manchester gig and the London counterpart have been marketed very effectively, with the poster showing an anime-style battle between the north and the south. The singer Harmony Cavelle dons black hair for the north, while keeping her usual blonde hair for the south, and the band have also lovingly crossed out ‘South’ on their logo backdrop and renamed themselves as North Arcade for the night. It gives you the impression that they’ll be giving their all for both shows by challenging themselves to play better, and also makes you want to experience both nights to compare.
They have a cracking fanbase too; and I soon realise just how dedicated their fans are when I strike up a conversation with some of the girls at the barrier and they all but force me to download Discord and join the South Arcade fan club. They’re clearly very excited to be here tonight, and they tell me that they’ll be at the next few South Arcade shows. I remember band fan clubs being a thing back when Linkin Park had their ‘Underground’ street team, and it’s really cool to see that fan support hasn’t been completely relegated to the realm of social media.
Fans are waving their foam-covered hands around and yelling as singer Harmony Cavelle struts onto stage; nearly deafening me with screams. They jump straight into ‘2005’. ‘2005’ speaks to South Arcade’s love of the Noughties and is steeped in nostalgic guitar tones reminiscent and pop textures. It’s a really fun track to immediately get people jumping around to. They follow this with ‘HOW 2 GET AWAY WITH MURDER’, which is inspired by the 2000’s TV series ‘Dexter’. It’s great listening to the crowd trying (and failing) to sing along with the car immobiliser noise, tyre screech and chainsaw effects in the track, and the gritty riffs work especially well on this one.
One of my personal highlights of the night was watching them cover Justin Timberlake’s ‘SexyBack’, a completely out of left field cover – but somehow it worked. The riffs were chugging, the mosh pits were moshing, and it was just tons of fun. They also dropped new single ‘Supermodels’, which they then went on to release the day after the Academy 3 gig. I want to say too that the guitarists looked so stoked to be there, jumping in unison and twirling around as much as humanly possible on a stage as small as Academy 3, and it’s great to see how much their live performance has evolved from their early gigs.
They end their set with their last song staple, ‘Stone Cold Summer’, which is a song about believing in yourself and not wavering from your goals. They bring a bunch of people onto stage for this last song, and it’s pretty euphoric watching them jump around with the band.
Despite feeling like the support bands didn’t fit the vibe of the bill, I wouldn’t change much about tonight. South Arcade struck the perfect balance between nostalgia and giving out a new more refined version of modern pop-rock, and it was great to be a part of it all tonight. I don’t think we’ve heard the last of South Arcade by any stretch of the imagination.
- Photos © Hannah Ross/Über Rock.
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