The Bravery headlined at The Station last Saturday, foreshadowing the March release of The Sun and The Moon Complete, an addition to their 2007 The Sun and The Moon. The show also featured Headstart, Cult Maze, Your Vegas and Switches.
We arrived to The Station late and unfortunately missed the first three bands, but were just in time to catch London’s own Switches.
Switches arrived onstage looking quite rad – props to frontman Matty’s red pants – introducing themselves as the Strokes and then the Fratellis and using Your Vegas’ drum set.
Four (possibly five) gorgeous guys make up Switches: Matty is on guitar and lead vocals; Thom is on bass (and his great-great-great-great-great grandfather apparently invented the bicycle); Ollie is on guitar, Steve rocks the drums and on Saturday, Felix, a new member (or perhaps just a friend helping out), was on the synth and the clapping machine.
Switches surprised us with their Brit pop/power rock mix and catchy lyrics.
Having never heard them before we were surprised to find ourselves singing along by the end of each song and dancing wildly (much to the chagrin of our neighbors, we’re sure).
Switches have yet to release an album here in the US, but in the UK they have two, the latest being Message from Yuz. These boys are already starting to make an impression stateside, with their hit song “Lay Down the Law” included in the movie Jumper and an upcoming album debut March 18.
We didn’t want them to stop. Or go back to England. Ever.
After what seemed like the longest set change of our lives, The Bravery came out at about quarter to eleven.
Even with the delays, the enthusiastic headliners never lost their pizzazz and high energy.
Also not too bad looking, Sam Endicott (lead vocals, guitar), John Conway (keyboard), Anthony Burulcich (drums), Mike Hindert (bass, and a drop dead hottie) and Michael Zakarin (lead guitar, back up vocals) rocked to the fullest for almost two hours.
They ended with their straight-to-the-point, didn’t-head-off-stage-first encore of two songs. The crowd and the band both left this set sweaty.
There was nothing not to like about this $18 night – especially if you caught the whole four hour show – our ears are still ringing and we only saw half of it!
We left the show pumped and ready to snatch up those CDs when they finally come out, and to find these guys to congratulate them on a fabulous show.
The Bravery’s new two-disc set, also scheduled to hit shelves March 18, is an addition to their second CD, The Sun and The Moon. It features The Sun: the original 12 songs; and The Moon: those same songs in the same order, but completely re-imagined and re-worked.
Keep your ears cleaned out because there is definitely more to come from Switches and The Bravery. Rawk on.