Everything Everything // Rock City, nottingham
A love letter to a Cherished decade-old album
⭐⭐⭐⭐(4.5/5)
Everything Everything at Rock City, Nottingham
Photo credits: Mel Tumber
Everything Everything’s ‘Get to Heaven’ 10 year anniversary tour felt like a victory lap, celebrating their career which has spanned almost two decades. If every one of their crowds were as loud as the one in Rock City, Nottingham, it’s no wonder they had the privilege of playing the 2015 album in its entirety all across the country.
The night started off strong with the incredible Lime Garden as support, playing to an already-packed venue. The four-piece all-female band that describes themselves as ‘wonk pop’ shone on stage and instantly captured everybody’s attention with their energy that was matched perfectly by the audience - undoubtedly gaining them new fans in the process. With influences such as MGMT, Fontaines D.C. and Wolf Alice, their music was a wonderful blend of indie pop rock, surf rock and psychedelic pop. Each member of the band stood out with their own unique presence and their set will certainly stick in my mind for a long time.
Everything Everything were greeted with one of the most enthusiastic crowds I’ve ever seen, no doubt full of long-time fans who hold ‘Get to Heaven’ close to their hearts. Clad in matching yellow robes that fans informed me were a nod to their most recent album, ‘Mountainhead’, the band met the audience with smiles and waves of appreciation before picking up their instruments and kicking off the show with ‘To the Blade’, the opening track of ‘Get to Heaven’, and a song that fools you into thinking it’s going to be slow and solemn, but then suddenly explodes into belted notes, a booming bassline and frantic drumming.
From that point onwards, the excitement of the crowd was undeniable, singing every word at astounding volume. One of my personal favourites was ‘Only as Good as My God’, a song with an incredibly catchy riff that I was humming to myself on the way home. Frontman Jonathan Higgs’ ethereal falsetto and dreamlike lighting went together beautifully and multiple times, the songs, accompanied by clapping from the audience, gradually built up to magnificent belted notes and a massive crescendo.
There was a slight decrease in energy with the slower song ‘We Live in Pairs’, but that didn’t stop the audience from singing along with tears in their eyes, growing in volume for the line “I’m asking you to heal me”.
Higgs asked the audience to sing along to the opening of ‘Spring/Sun/Winter/Dread’, a song with lyrics about the fears of growing older that vastly contrasted its upbeat, poppy sound, and ‘Distant Past’, a well-known fan favourite, was the last song before the encore, featuring songs such as ‘No Reptiles’, a song about feeling outcast from society that brought the crowd to tears, ‘Hapsburg Lippp’, a song with a booming bassline, and ‘Cold Reactor’, finishing off the show.
Throughout the night, Everything Everything and their fans felt as though they had become one, and proved that the music has a special place in a lot of people’s hearts, and it would come as no surprise for the band to embark on more anniversary tours.
Words and photos by Mel Tumber
