LIVE REVIEW: The Brookes, Last Of The Wonder Kids + The Lamberts @ Moon on the Water, Cleethorpes

This Feeling has been receiving phenomenal feedback to their expansion of venues this year. Whilst their club nights were predominantly in the main English cities of Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and London last year, they’ve been visiting smaller cities and big towns so far in 2018.

Following on from Himalayas in Truro during Record Store Week, and Idolising Nova amongst others taking a trip to Peterborough, last weekend (10th February), the zone finally arrived in Cleethorpes. So, what is there to know about Cleethorpes: the seaside town is best known for arcades, Pleasure Island (sadly shut down last year) and being practically attached at the hip to Grimsby. The venue of choice for Lincolnshire’s first ever This Feeling club night was Moon On The Water; a trendy vegan cafe, ran by an inspiring community initiative. It’s a very modern venue, with plenty of space, an urban aesthetic, and several gigantic comfy couches (which we can confirm were extremely comfy!). There were three acts on the bill, and all three are Lincolnshire natives from the surrounding Cleethorpes/Grimsby area. Opening were The Lamberts, followed by Last Of The Wonder Kids, before the night was closed by headliners The Brookes.

The Lamberts, made up of two Morgans, Dylan, Sam and Luke, have already amassed a huge local following, judging by the plentiful gathering of fans who had made their way straight to the front even before their set had kicked off. The band were really confident performers, unleashing their usual swagger from the get-go. There was a massive positive reaction from the crowd to their set; the lads were visibly heartened seeing the majority of the audience singing their lyrics back to them. An extra bonus to their set was that sound quality peaked for them – whilst there was occasional blips with the venue’s sound during the evening, it held out strong for The Lamberts from beginning to the end of their set. Excitingly, they also treated us all to some new material from their upcoming EP.

The Lamberts (our own photo)

Following on from them were Grimsby’s Last Of The Wonder Kids, flying the local flag. This Feeling are extra fantastic promoters because they go out of their way to ensure there is a balance of female involvement in their shows. Last of the Wonder Kids made up a third of the two thirds of performers on the night to include a female member. Lorna plays bass and contributes to vocals. Fellow band mates Ash sings main vocals and plays guitar, and Alex is their drummer. They wowed us all with another feisty energetic set, and kept the standard of the night high. There was good tight harmonisation between Lorna and Ash; it adds a great dynamic to a band’s sound when men and women sing together. The group have a wholesome tradition of covering a track every time they play in their hometown. This time around, they added their own spin to the Erasure 1980s classic ‘A Little Respect’.

Last Of The Wonder Kids (our own photo)

Closing the show was The Brookes; they had already experienced a triumphant show with This Feeling earlier in the week at London’s Monarch, but the rapturous reception from their hometown crowd totally topped this. It is becoming exceedingly obvious why they are loved nationally as well as locally – their alternative rock sound is laced with punchy punk riffs and striking vocals, occasionally bordering on psychedelic punk. They pack the same fierceness into their performances that other passionate, and driven young bands within the This Feeling circle do. Lead singer Benjamin is mesmerising on stage, from his mannerisms to his stage appearance, clearly inspired from 70s glam rock greats. He wore red eyeshadow and a couple of songs in, his top came off to reveal a bare chest with only tape covering his nipples. This was a strong punk-esque statement in itself, and it could not help but remind me of Zach from King No-One. Fellow band mates Fraser and Elliott are responsible for the punk undertone bass and lead guitar riffs, whilst Lauren does not hold back on the drums. Again, a female presence in a rock/alternative band is extremely positive, as this is helping shift the prejudiced views about women in rock; it is helping to move society a stage closer to when males and women will hopefully be viewed the same in music.

The Brookes (taken by Chester Forman)

As with many punk rock groups, their performance was exhilarating and sadly over in the blink of an eye. One of the highlights for us was ‘Open Road’, a song Benjamin has written about his long term girlfriend, who he adoringly pointed out in the crowd. You could tell the band were lost in the track and you could clearly see the passion and dedication the lead singer was putting into every single lyric. The wonderful element of This Feeling shows is the intimacy you have with bands who should really be playing vastly bigger stages; there was virtually no barrier between crowd and band, and we forged a strong sense of connection to every track because of this close interaction. Here’s the songs which the band played, in case any of you reading were at the gig, really liked a song but didn’t catch its name:

• Bleed Me Dry
• Cold Shoulder
• Ominous
• La La La
• Open Road
• Bishops Fall
• Man Up

Hopefully The Brookes will continue to play local venues in their hometown even though they are deservingly increasing their fan base; above all, we hope (and strongly anticipate) This Feeling will be making another visit to our side of the country in the very near future.