The BLACKOUT 

W/PROXIES,SONIC BOOM SIX

Electric Ballroom, London 25/01/2013

Words: Jenny Chu

Past performances at the great Round House and packing out the Underworld only a few months ago, The Blackout’s show tonight at the Electric Ballroom is a great medium for an accomplished band who are due to celebrate their 10 year anniversary.

Yorkshire 3-piece Proxies maintain a great effort to warm up the party, their set being the pre drinking session; bursting with power pop rock bubbly and shaken fizzy melodies.

Sonic Boom Six extend catchy reggae rhythms with punk rock attitude. Manchester 5-piece seem to be in the right place in the right time with marmite reactions of the past, tonight fans new and old get into their groove.

Soaking up the party, The Blackout come storming as vocalists Sean Smith and Gavin Butler are armed with confetti cannons, while smashing their way through opener ‘Best In Town’. Gavin announces “I want to see everyone go crazy” and the Welsh mob join in on the antics.

What makes this good band, great, is the lack of stage production. The adrenaline in their set is enough to send everyone’s energy levels sky high. Single ‘This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things’ is performed with a fresh drive though released over 3 years ago. The chorus sees an excitable Sean get on Gavin’s shoulders for the sing along, inspiring the crowd to do the same.  Closing with ‘I’m A Riot? You’re A Fucking Riot’ and ‘Save Our Selves’ sending circle pits into shock before the classic sit-down-jump-up crowd moment (stolen from Slipknot).