LIFE, The Deaf Institute. 6th October 2022

Great band, great venue. There we go, review done! This is a great venue, despite running out of anything on draft before the band are on. Let me tell you a little more about LIFE though. They are spiky! This my second time out with them, the first was on a tiny stage supporting Pearl Jam on one of the hottest days of the year. Tonight the surroundings are a little different. They’re bloody entertaining it has to be said. Brutal basslines, scratchy guitars and a genuinely magnetic singer. Mez commands a stage, dancing, miming and making a trench-coat look like the best fashion choice ever. He’s brimming with confidence, jumping into the crowd with his tambourine and shaking it for all his worth. ‘Excites Me’ is a post punk glam rock headfuck, it’s absolutely brilliant. There’s a lot of bands trying to do this right now. I don’t think anyone is doing it like LIFE. Yes there’s a lot of sharp darkness, but they’re packed with a sexy pop swagger that’s truly infectious. I don’t know these songs that well, but by god I’ve not had this much fun at a gig in ages, seriously I’m questioning the jumper I’ve worn. Grabbing a drink at the bar, I’m not at all surprised to look to my left to find Mez on the bar walking toward me mid song, mic cable straining, before slipping back into the crowd. They are seriously fucking brilliant live. A varied set that still sounds coherent and tight. The first time I saw them I was impressed, but tonight they blew me away. Definitely a band to keep an eye on, see them as soon as you can in wonderful venues like Deaf before word really gets out and the stages get bigger. The trench-coat collar is up for ‘Friends Without Names’, “This is our favourite one”, it’s mine too. It’s a beautifully haunting song, with all the power and grandeur to finish any set, but the problem is you don’t want it to end. It’s not the end though, this is the confidence they have that they can follow it. The drummer pressing go on a drum machine, picking up a guitar and launching into a beautiful lament to gently ease us back into the nights cold. Absolutely sublime.