Review: Walk The Moon bring infectious pop to Birmingham
- Walk The Moon played to a busy O2 Institute on Tuesday February 23rd 2016
- Support on the night came from Tennessee rockers Colony House
- WTM’s most popular track ‘Shut Up and Dance’ aired with aplomb
Colony House
Tennessee band Colony House opened up this evening. Their brief set showcased a diverse range of songs with guitar rock ballads reminiscent of Coldplay and jaunty indie pop songs not dissimilar from the headline act. Band members performed with an infectious electric energy as they maintained a bold stage presence and compelling chemistry with one another. The crowd reacted positively with some light dancing and jumping around, slowly being eased into the fast paced relentless performance that was to come.
Walk The Moon
Walk The Moon made a theatrical entrance to Elton John’s ‘Circle Of Life’ – appropriately suiting their bold fashion sense and colourful face paint. They kicked proceedings off with a rapid pace maintained throughout the show with bouncy number ‘Jenny’ from their debut. The set had material primarily from 80s synth-pop second release Talking Is Hard intersected with some fan favourites all performed with an infectiously positive aura.
Walk The Moon
This brilliant energy emphasized by rapid drums, lovable catchy riffs and anthemic vocals was maintained at a consistently high level bringing the audience together exuberating a unique positivity. They brought fans together with their music in a way that many established bands may struggle to, instead of simply playing their music for the sake of a live performance they managed to create an experience fans could take away special memories from. This was particularly highlighted in ‘I Can Lift A Car’ where the motivational spirit had a distinct power in the live setting. The band encouraged fans to participate in ritualistic like actions relating to the topicality of pushing out the negative things in your life and standing up proud. Pounding drums, stadium filling guitars and the band’s charismatic attitude, fuelled the energy. It seemed as if they were having the time of their lives with beaming smiles and wacky dance moves, making it difficult not to have an enjoyable time.
Closing their main set with the universal smash-hit ‘Shut Up and Dance’ encapsulated the celebratory euphoric atmosphere within one single track. They had everyone in the room screaming along whilst communally bouncing to the buzz of guitar layered with squealing synths and blasting drums.
Walk The Moon
Walk The Moon returned to the stage with a touching tribute to one of their main idols David Bowie with a cover of ‘Just Dance’, highlighting how Bowie has had a clear influence on elements that make the best of Walk The Moon’s songs. Before boding farewell to Birmingham they played one of their earlier hits and a strong fan favourite ‘Anna Sun’ ending the high-octane performance on a high. The fast paced rhythm and mystifying synths gave fans a final opportunity to bounce around and sing along at the top of their lungs.
Walk The Moon
Walk The Moon’s overwhelmingly enthusiastic energy and focus on pure happiness running through all of their work is at its best in a live setting. It felt as if they put a lot into creating the best performance possible to represent the positivity in their tracks, and they formed a connection with fans in the audience whilst effectively bringing everyone in the room together.
Photographs by Edward Taylor
Media and Communications student with a passion for music and discovering new artists. 90% of the time you’ll find me at a gig. I listen to a really wide range of artists such as The 1975, Two Door Cinema Club, Bombay Bicycle Club, Ed Sheeran, Disclosure, Lorde, Florence and The Machine, Ben Howard, as well as a tonne of pop music like Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding.