Friday night in The Sunflower Lounge was an exploration through time. Starting with the hard rock of the 70’s, the pop rock of the 00’s, and the funk rock of the 80’s. It was a visual and audible feast.
Road Closed:
Based in Birmingham, the band started as they meant to go on, spirited and loud. With their opening of the night being a cover of Led Zepplin’s ‘Immigrant Song,’ it set the energy high, and the tempo higher. The crowd was enthralled, head-banging and cheering for each song, their enthusiasm fuelled by the zealous lead singer Leo; who throughout their set, comfortably jumped about the stage, his beat-up shoes a sign he did this often.
With their new EP on the way, the band, consisting of Leo, Amar, Tyler and Sam, celebrated by playing the unreleased ‘Petals and Thorns,’ a song from the EP. It was after this, that singer Leo, encouraged the crowd to join him in taking a shot of olive oil as he’s ‘shit at looking after his lungs,’ unfortunately, I didn’t have a drink on hand.
Road Closed’s set ended with a brief story into their final song, ‘Lightning’, accompanied of course, by flashes of lights on stage, amplifying the end of their performance. The band had left a lasting impression on the crowd, with the audience wanting more.
Hunny Buzz:
With their matching pastel guitars, Bristol band Hunny Buzz took to the stage and transported us to the pop rock age of the early 2000’s. The group, Lydia, Ewan, Rowan, and Ben began their set with ‘Not Your Place,’ their single from earlier this year. Singer Lydia had a more reserved, yet bubbly presence on stage, and connected with the audience, sharing her love for Hooch (and the Sunflower Lounge’s 2 for £6 deal), and lamented about how hot it was. The band’s music reminded me of the beloved 00’s rom- com 10 Things I Hate About You, which was helped by the sprinkling of the synth piano throughout their set.
There was a moment of forgetting chords for their unreleased song ‘Maisie,’ but the group were quickly back into their bedroom rock groove, and played from their just released EP, ‘Welcome to Our Garden’. Their set ending with their most popular song, ‘Now I can get over you’.
SANTÙ:
The floor was wall to wall packed with excited gig-goers, so much so that people had to sit on the stairs to watch Birmingham’s own SANTÙ’s show on Friday night. Emerging from a haze of fog, and illuminated in a blue light, the band began their heavily awaited performance with ‘Fly High’, from their newest EP ‘FULVETTA ACT 1.’ Members, Ze, Sam, Jono and Tom each had an unrelenting swagger about them, all of them soaking up the appreciative and mesmerised audience.
There were many masterful solos throughout their set, with the band members just as supportive and impressed as the audience. Lead singer Ze took the time express to the audience how grateful the band were for so many people here to support their music, and in doing so gave the crowd the mic for the song ‘What if I told you’, one of the crowd’s favourites of the night
Their penultimate song ‘No Intention’, also gave the crowd a chance to sing along with the band, however when it ended the audience clamoured for more, and before doing so, the group gave a shoutout the amazing guys working the lights and sound, something I hadn’t seen a band do before.
SANTÙ were more than happy to provide an encore; ending their spectacular set with ‘Scream’.