COUNTERFEIT make a stop at Electric Ballroom in Camden, London while on their headline tour.

Counterfeit are meant to be on at 9:30pm. Monarks and Bellevue Days do a great job with warming up the crowd but it is really hard not to notice restless crowd excited about tonight’s headliners.

The time is 9:20pm when the lights go off. The audience burst into screams expecting the band to emerge on stage in a second. But that’s not what is happening.

The purple light enters and floods the room when the first note of Prince’s Purple Rain is being scattered across. Many hands shoot in the air just as many hearts break, over 1000 voices join in.

In the next moment the stroboskop lights start to dance, the drums start to build up and the guitar strings are being pulled to make a space for the upcoming powerful riffs whilst the frontman of the band, Jamie Campbell Bower, makes a bold entrance jumping off the stage.

It’s quite a daring move opening with a stage diving on the first track but Hold Fire seems to be perfect for it. Loud screams welcome the singer when he makes his way through the crowd just to end up in the opposite corner of the room. Standing on the railings and towering over the audience he unveils his solid vocal range letting it reach all gathered fans.

We’re only on the second song here For The Thrill Of It when a security guy offers me the ear plugs. Standing exactly next to the loudspeaker has its pros and cons but there’s definitely no need for these extreme measures, is there?

With only five released tracks Counterfeit display a wide set list worth of a LP. They are confidently and smoothly moving from the song Romeo to Close To Your Chest to Washed Out with a short comment about each one of them. I must admit that I had some doubts before this show. There’s a lot of fuss and ambiguity around this band what has its foundation in having a well-known actor as a frontman, I guess. That may be quite a challenge but Counterfeit present themselves as a tight and consolidated group. There are five instruments on stage echoing with the same tenacious frequency, sounding equally loud.

Jamie Campbell Bower is a born frontman, though. Certainly a chatty and a fierce type, using his acting skills wisely when he leads the crowd throughout the entire set. In the next minute he tells them to make a circle in the middle of the floor, but not precisely with a mosh pit in mind, he gets what he asks for. Letter To The Lost, a softer offering from the band, the singer dedicates to a friend who has taken his own life after which he grabs his guitar and joins the audience saying “I’m gonna play the music inside you”. Having such an uncommon and unique connection with the fan base Counterfeit have definitely started building something peculiarly special.

The track that sounds the loudest [as if there was any scale for that] is surely sharp Come Get Some taken from their 2015 EP under the same title. And yet again, having only five released songs it is remarkable how many fans know the lyrics and sing back at the band.

Obviously, playing at Electric Ballroom is a big deal for Counterfeit as they admit it is fine to get nervous sometimes. But at this point, there’s nothing more but fearless spirit emanating from them. Pretty sure the whole Camden has heard it.

The band showcase many songs from new material and amongst blistering sound of Family Suicide, raucous Addiction or edgy Lost Everything we find untitled track on the set list tonight. Moreover, Bower does not expose tight bond with the audience, not even for a second. In one moment he gives a shout-out to the family and friends squeezing at the back telling them to take an example from the people standing in the front and jump a little bit. In another we hear a question “Any ex-girlfriends out there? No? Good.” which get boisterous cheers in response.

And then they’re off but not for long.

Counterfeit return on stage with roaring sound of their latest single Enough which is followed by the giant mosh pit, stage diving and crowd surfing. And then you realise that you can find everything in this band. You just have to look very closely.

After a few “Thank you” and a few snaps the band are gone showing to the pubic slightly more than just their backs.

Seeing Counterfeit performing live gives you the idea that “Life is about doing things that don’t suck, with people who don’t suck”. Just as they say – Together we are stronger.

Photo: Kasia Osowiecka