BLAENAVON deliver a gripping performance at Scala in London.

Geographical jokes aside, this next band is about to take on the world.

After a busy festival season and playing a few opening slots for Mystery Jets and DIIV this past months, the Hampshire trio made an appearance at London’s Scala last week to play their highly-anticipated headline show.

Blaenavon‘s shows are the quintessence of proper rock madness and tonight is surely no exception. The band kicks off with sleek guitars of the outstanding track Hell Is My Head, taken from their 2015’s EP, Miss World. As the trio continues to intertwine new material with their early stuff the lyrics So let’s pray, let’s pray let’s pray for death smoothly slips Into The Night (2013’s debut single). At this point the response from the crowd is vastly significant. Many impressively sing back every word which does not happen that often at the beginning of the set.

Despite entering only their twenties these young lads have already established an idiosyncratic sound of theirs. Startling maturity of their lyrics emphasised by Gregory‘s deep vocals balances well whilst Wright‘s groovy basslines and McMillan‘s endless building-up drums capture the essence of catchy rhythms. In result we get the arena-sized tunes which translate thoroughly into the live format. Every time I see this band perform the stage doesn’t seem to be big enough.

“Another slice of album pie”, My Bark Is Your Bite, follows next and it’s a consecutive example of well-crafted songwriting skills. There is something dark, almost decadent, hidden in Blaenavon‘s tracks. That however, does not mean the band strays away from more up-tempo poppy vibes. The offerings Alice Come Home and Take Care land on the setlist alongside Orthodox Man which has been stated in the past probably the catchiest song so far by the vocalist himself.

Blaenavon put on shows with a certain precision and firm confidence (besides a few shy moments when being overwhelmed by the crowd’s reaction). In spite of keeping the stage production to the minimal they never give away a feeling that there’s something missing. Their engagement with the crowd and each other respectively is bold and fierce what can be clearly seen in the guitars being swaggered all over the stage or Gregory‘s hair being flicked from one side to the other in-between songs. If anything, the stage persona of this band undoubtedly possesses an alluring factor making the entire live experience even more captivating.

Sweeping riffs of the brilliant track I Will Be The World underline the enraged spirit and youthful nostalgia one more time as they finish the main set. Shortly after the trio disappears from the stage the loud screams arise and there’s still one more song to play.

The band returns with an encore and I believe it’s fair to say that, following the lead of the previous song, Prague leaves Blaenavon on top of the world, literally and figuratively speaking as the frontman is being tossed above our heads. And no matter the size of it because tonight the world certainly sounds loud enough.

Blaenavon are a band who has been telling us stories since the very beginning and despite claiming they don’t really have a story of their own I think the opposite. Perhaps it has started a few years ago and maybe it’s about to finish sooner or later, but damn that’s surely quite a crazy middle.

Photos: Kasia Osowiecka