Following the release of their surreal debut album, Primrose Path, Dream State had pulled out all the stops at their biggest headline show to date.

Not only had the band gone from playing Camden Underworld earlier this year to the much larger ULU, they sold it out!

The lights were down as CJ started singing the introduction to Made Up Smile. Dancing around the stage in a hypnotic way, she quickly captivated the audience’s attention. Her presence was sincere and awe-inspiring as she sang with so much emotion. It was clear she felt every word she was singing.

The set was led by the new album, songs like Hand In Hand, Are You Ready To Live?, and Primrose went down particularly well. Early in the set CJ jumped down from the stage to join the crowd, stood on the barrier holding fan’s hands as she continued to sing.

The band gave the crowd a choice between the songs Out Of The Blue and Spitting Lies. Probably to the delight of drummer Jamie who had revealed to us before the show how difficult Out Of The Blue is to perform live, the crowd chose Spitting Lies and it was phenomenal live.

Towards the end of the set sheets of paper were thrown out into the crowd. They were the letters that covered the walls for the Twenty Letters video. The night concluded with a brilliant encore of New Waves and In This Hell.

Dream State delivered an incredible set at ULU, every song was performed with a powerhouse of energy and an impressive level of skill. They all lived up to how astounding they sound recorded, maybe even better.

Photos: Dani Willgress