The Summer Set are currently on the UK leg of their Stories For Monday tour in support and celebration of a successful comeback with their fourth studio album of the same title. The record itself is based on the events of a party and what happens after so it was natural to be present at the London date to test out how the new songs work live at an intimate venue like the Scala.
Opening the night, we got indie band SYKES – their sound might not be my cup of tea at the moment but they surely can rock, and seem like a promising young band worth checking out.
The LaFontains however, completely stole my heart and support from now on. What a mistake, I’ve only known them by name until last night. Their strong stage presence and engagement with the crowd throughout the entire set left me in awe. The music is like Priorities-era Don Broco dynamics meets Twenty One Pilots-like rap verses in a Glaswegian accent, plus some “Imma make you dance whether you want or not” magic that gives an edge.
Following the small intro of the monologue from the “Wasted” music video, The Summer Set hit right into the middle of things with the first single off the new album, “Figure Me Out.” Not too punk nor too pop, the 90 minute long set went by in a perfect, dance filled flash to a well put-together mixture of tracks; not even losing much of the upbeat energy for the ballad moment of the set that’s supposed to be “Legendary.” The major throwback that is “Chelsea” brought the crowd into a rave, and the new songs like “All In” and “All My Friends” had pretty much the same effect. The end of a performance is always bittersweet yet it was my favourite this time around – everyone screaming “Hell yeah! Alright, I ain’t missing you!” then the band coming back for the encore with “Wasted” (possibly the best song they’ve created so far) to empower and inspire a room full of young people… just to throw our hearts in the air as they turned the lights on and the party was over.
It’s safe to say The Summer Set delivered true house party feelings and also tore that imaginary house down. Sometimes all you need to have a damn great time is to sing and dance like crazy to catchy pop tunes. This band’s live performance made a bleak day turn into something much better and it was great to see them again after almost exactly 3 years since the first time.
Coincidentally, this morning’s 4AM caught me in a parking lot…on my way to work still high from this gig and ready to fight the weekend war.
