By Jase Walker
It’s almost time for festival season to kick off around the ÜK and Europe so I’m getting my fill of nice standalone shows before I disappear into my bubble of existing in various large crowds with a beer on hand at all times. And tonight’s show is a good dose of some lovely emo courtesy of Movements and their support for this tour, Sweet Pill.
Now for anyone that knows me, I’ve remarked that I’ve missed three different chances at seeing Sweet Pill for all manner of dumb reasons so now I finally get to see this lovely sparkly Midwest emo outfit, I’m gonna bloody soak it up. Shame it’s only a support slot because I am dying for a headline show from these so fingers crossed it’s not too far in the distant future. As for Movements, I was served a rather lovely short set from them at Jera On Air last year and I loved every minute of it so not gonna complain about a big headline set.
Not opting for any real grand entrance and just casually walking onto the stage while the intermission music is still playing, Sweet Pill suddenly pierce the silence with “UUUTREEECHT”! And opening with ‘Where The Heart Is’, the title track of their debut album, it’s exactly the way I wanted their set to kick off, lovely sparkly emo and I can’t get enough of it. But not just that, flowing straight into ‘Blood’ as per the album set so I’m already super happy with this!
Blasting through a couple of “brand-spankin-new” ones that fully amp up the energy and show off Sweet Pill leaning a bit more heavy into the punk roots of their style. “Starchild” from their recent(ish) EP also sounds bloody fantastic from my lofty position on the balcony singing along with a rather lovely unobstructed view. This set has already been way above my expectations for my first taste of Sweet Pill and I truly hope it’ll be far from the last.
The Netherlands is also probably the only country you’d really hear “fuck yeah bikes!” being screamed by the audience too, just part of the vibe here. And just as they get into ‘High Hopes’, the singer randomly screams “BIKES!” as they get into the main intro melody, love it and during a quiet moment of the song someone in the audience is heard saying “Bikes.” just loud enough for everyone to hear which cracks the singer up.
Despite taking so long for me to catch them, I’m still getting most of the big bangers from their album, next on the bucket list is ‘Dog Song’, which begins with the whole audience screaming to kick things off. And finishing with a run through ‘Red String’ and ‘Cut’ (and a surprise extra song) wraps up a 45-minute set that’s left me feeling incredibly satisfied that despite missing so many chances, they’ve not cycled my favourites out just yet and I’ll take it. Best come back soon!
Opting for an ‘80s vibe ÜS newscast voice over to signal their beginning, Movements take their places under a cover of darkness and the room erupts into screams. Leading with ‘Afraid To Die’, the front of the crowd is already a sea of movement with Movements gladly playing pied Piper.
Still keeping with strong openings by moving onto ‘Lead Pipe’, what started as a small pit on one side suddenly explodes into a full front crowd jumping around. Out of the corner of my eye I spot a couple of bubbles slowly moving past me and I look down to see a couple blowing tons of them at each other while dancing around; what a vibe. One lad jumps up on stage early on and immediately tries to dive back off and it seems that some down the front clearly were not prepared for this sort of thing, whoops. However, for good old fashioned push pits? Yeah they’re all over that!
These guys know how to whip people into a frenzy for some old songs and teasing ‘Full Circle’ immediately sees the already busy pit in the middle just turn into a full on… er, ruckus. Some poor lass tries stage diving after crowd surfing and doesn’t quite stick the landing, but this sets off an immediate chain reaction with anyone just getting up and diving back.
I feel like some of the people down the front are getting a very intense introduction course on what being down the front at a barrierless punk show means, that’s the business end of the crowd, not a personal space to get good video footage on your phone. Clearly the singers noticed this as he gives a quick speech on how to handle this by propping people up in unison over protecting your head, that’s just how it goes.
Even the singer of Sweet Pill is getting involved with the crowd surfing and stage diving, the last show of the tour so anything goes by this point, even if it does mean potentially a sprained ankle on the flight home. ‘Kept’ barely needs more than two notes before people are turning the center of the crowd into a frenzy running around, diving on top of each other, throwing people around, the whole shebang. It seems Movements got the memo on what the Utrecht “U” thing is as well, seems a lot of bands from outside the Netherlands often get a bit perplexed by it but amusing nonetheless.
This is one of those shows where I end up observing the audience a ton more than the band, not because the band is boring or anything, quite the opposite. When the band is just so damn good, on so many different levels, you can just appreciate the way they’re operating and just start scanning the crowd for people’s reactions.
For tonight’s show, the crowd has arguably been the star of the show with an incredible soundtrack. Everyone here has partied so hard you’d think this was a peak midsummer Saturday night show, from start to finish there’s not a single person in this venue that hasn’t given it both barrels.
At the end end of the set, I think we got like two or three extra songs because it was the last date of the tour and we’ll be waiting a while for their return as it’s time to buckle down with new material. Their presence will be sorely missed for the foreseeable future, but absence makes the heart grow fonder and I’ll be right back with them when they return. Movements are a massive pillar of the emo scene for me and seeing them absolutely kill a headline show at the end of their tour in such incredible fashion is something I’d never take for granted.
Truly fantastic evening from both bands, and I hope that Sweet Pill at least will be back soon on their own merits, I need it.