After a successfully completing a headline European tour, ROAM have embarked on the UK leg of the tour bringing along Stand Atlantic and WSTR for the ride…
Stand Atlantic started the night and well and truly warmed up the crowd - no mean feat on a cold December night. The female fronted pop punk three piece from Australia provided the poppiest sound of the gig, but we still met with mosh pits and enthusiasm from the crowd.
Second support act WSTR only further excited the crowd, which obviously contained several of their fans. WSTR are themselves popular in the UK Pop Punk scene, and provided the angriest of the night’s offerings which culminated in the band demanding a circle pit during their set, seeing half the crowd participating.
Think Tank is a small (no barriers) venue so bands have limited options for aesthetic and production, but ROAM still managed to decorate the stage in keeping with the album art of Great Heights and Nosedives, incorperating cactus flags and balloons.
The night saw several crowdsurfers... some even made it onto stage (much to securitys' anger)
The band started their set with 'Alive', one of the singles from the new album which was met with enthusiasm from the crowd. This tour, in support of the recent album release, was the first chance the band has had to debut many of their newer tracks live, although fans were still treated to some older songs.
In true pop punk style, every time vocalist Alex Costello neared the crowd he was soon inundated with fingers pointed in his face and lyrics being shouted back at him. The night also saw several crowdsurfers, and the no barriers nature of the venue meant some even made it onto the stage (much to securitys' anger).
Halfway through the band performed their acoustic track 'Tracks', which was a beautiful sing along moment for the entire crowd. Although the album version is completely acoustic, the entire band remained on stage to play because, according to frontman Alex, “it sounds better” which I have to agree with.
The band skipped leaving the stage pre-encore due to timing issues so as to still play a full set - this was appreciated although it did mean the gig seemed to come to an abrupt finish. The band finished the night with 'Head Rush', a fan favourite from their 2013 Head Down EP which features perhaps the most anthemic outro of any of their songs; a clear choice for closer.
No barrier pop punk gigs are easily my favourite type of show; in my opinion there is no other way to really experience pop punk – you’ve got to get stuck into the crowd and join in the angry finger pointing and mosh pits. So, for me, this was the perfect gig to conclude my 2017 and ROAM are definitely a band I will be seeing again as soon as possible!