Despite the grim weather, it was summer in the basement of the Sunflower Lounge on Tuesday night, filled with electric rock, supportive fans, and a palpable heat; it was certainly a night to remember.
Permanent (Joy):
Originally called Blondes, Liverpool’s own Permanent (Joy) celebrated their fifth ever performance by starting off the set with ‘Save My Life,’ a surfer rock tune that was reminiscent of the late 90’s punk rock scene, reminding me of Third Eye Blind’s ‘Semi Charmed Life.’
The band also expressed their gratitude to headliner Teenage Dads for allowing them to support them throughout the tour. Despite the minimal crowd work, the band, consisting of, Noah, Alex, Dan and Dave, were able to get the audience engaged with their music. With the unique concoction of shoegaze meeting rock, their set was lively and enjoyable for all.
The band later promoted their CD ‘Josephine,’ by performing it to an excited crowd. In spite of their set being on the shorter side, the band made a just as memorable impression on the crowd and ended their performance with ‘I Wanna Go Home.’
Teenage Dads:
As the four Aussie’s leapt to the stage, the venue was filled with applause and cheer at the night’s headliner. The band started off their set with their most listened to song ‘Sunburnt,’ which set the crowd off into a fit of dancing and singing.
Vincent, Jordan, Angus and Connor’s energy bounced off each other throughout their show, the dynamic atmosphere radiating from them, making it all that more of an enjoyable experience to watch and listen to. The use of the synth piano throughout many of their songs took the audience back into the days of psychedelic rock, and with the combination of their signature melody of summer-time tunes, the audience were ecstatic and lively throughout the set.
Teenage Dads showed off two new songs, ‘Boyfriend,’ and ‘Boarding Pass,’ with hints at a release date of later in the summer. They also provided two excellent and strikingly different in theme covers, that being the ‘Postman Pat’ theme song, and the timeless ‘Video Killed the Radio Star,’ the latter encapsulating their overall ‘vibe’ perfectly.
Declaring it too hot to pretend to walk off and get cheered back on stage, the band performed their last two songs of the night ‘Teddy,’ and ‘Diego,’ both of which were met with raucous sing-yelling. After their set, the band took time to speak with the audience, hand out setlists, and take selfies, making it an unforgettable night for long time, or die hard fans.