By Jase Walker

Very recently I’d been having a pretty in depth conversation with a mate of mine about how much I loved Circa Survive and he mentioned that following their last tour in the States, they’d gone on indefinite hiatus, which sucked. He did care to mention that LS Dunes were linked via their singer and it rang a bell that they were touring the ÜK, so here I am!

The tour came initially with No Devotion in support, who sadly had to drop out just as the tour started, which is a real shame, so just a single act in support in the form of Kayleigh Goldsworthy.

Kayleigh walks onto the stage, a single guitar in her hands to an absolutely rammed venue filled with rapturous applause. It’s nice that barring some people singing the words, people are generally fairly quiet so her music can be heard clearly. This is quite a nice and wholesome build up to the more manic vibe of LS Dunes that is due to follow this up. What a fantastic voice she has though, effortless little bits of vibrato on her vocal melodies. One point she ends up almost cracking up mid-song as someone props a sign up in the middle of the crowd just saying “P.G. TITS”, classy.

I’ve somehow managed to pick a position that’s right in the firing line for a direct beam light to periodically shine directly in my face as well but I can’t really move as the room’s packed. It’s quite wholesome seeing one of the sweet ballads getting the crowd to react by turning their phone torches on and lighting up the room, definitely safer than lighters though eh? Kayleigh in-between each song does a lot to talk through what she’s doing, what the songs are about and how she’s feeling and it’s lovely seeing that she’s really connected to the audience. It takes a lot for a single person to get up on their own, no band, and play their stuff and even then not be drowned out by the dull roar of conversation in the crowd. Finishing up with LS Dunes playing a full band singalong to close her set out, great set.

After what appeared to be two separate intro songs and the drummer walking on and playing along to the audience screaming “here we, here we, here we fucking go!” as the rest make their way on stage, it’s time! And finally after all this time I get to hear Anthony Green’s unique and incredible vocals live for the first time ever. The mix they’ve got going on is bloody fantastic, one of the rare shows where the bass is not only something you can feel but the clarity of what’s being played is crystal clear. It’s incredible how much feedback they’re getting from the crowd when it comes to screaming the words to their songs, especially considering their album hasn’t been out that long either! Not only that but it looks like large chunks of the audience have been following the tour around and will continue to do so as well, mental.

Almost the entire audience is a sea of bouncing arms and heads to each song as well, shrill shrieks pierce the song repeatedly. I mean I’m really enjoying this but I think the people I’m seeing in the centre front of this show are on another level entirely! I’ve noticed that Anthony has made the effort to shake hands or fistbump any crowd surfers that have come over as well, regardless of if he’s in the middle of singing or not, which is a pretty nice touch. Anthony remarks on it being a bad idea to perform in a long sleeve T-shirt and someone shouts to take it off, to which he responds “No, I have 12 nipples, it’s disgusting”, snappy response.

Honestly, the reaction LS Dunes are getting from this performance is incredible; the fanbase here is quite diverse due to the groups that each member of the band is associated with. I mean the music’s great anyway but there’s clearly a large contingent here of My Chemical Romance fans that are following Frank about for example. The stream of crowd surfers has remained pretty constant throughout the show as well, everyone here is fully losing themselves in the show! Admittedly the total set was a bit short in terms of shows I’ve been to before but to be fair, they’ve literally only just got one album and the set was an hour anyway!

Finishing with Kayleigh returning to the stage, on violin no less, to perform with LS Dunes to the crowd again chanting “here we, here we, here we fucking go!”. This draws to a close a spectacular set that the ÜK has had the rare privilege of being the first proper tour destination for a super group such as this and I’ve had the privilege to see Manchester go off in response to them. What an absolute treat tonight was.

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