The Weeks

17.01.2015

US band The Weeks kicked off the first night of their UK tour on the south coast at The Joiners and it was a night of excellent music from all four bands.

Opening for the evening tonight was local band Damn Beats. Starting off with ‘Headache’ and ‘T.O.S.M’, there with a slight indie tone to the songs as the rhythm sleeked its way behind the powerful vocals and harmonies. ‘Socie-Tea’ grooved its way through the track with a delicate guitar over a thumping bass, again with great harmonies throughout the track, whilst ‘Lay Low’ and a new song ‘Skinny Linear’ was more of that indie-infused sound. Ending on a blues-infused instrumental ‘Little Wing’, with an array of impressive guitar licks throughout, this finished off a great set from the band.

Another local band Foxer took to the stage next and added a slightly heavier tone with this set, with crunchy guitars and a deeper sound to their tracks. Opening their set with ‘Higher And Higher’ and ‘Save Yourself’, it was straight into a delicious sound of soaring guitars over a thunderous rhythm and the vocals were a great mixture of harmonies .‘Otherside’ which starts with a guitar that rises above the rhythm section, the vocals were almost hypnotic before a foot-stomper of a riff kicked in, this song definitely got the crowd moving to this one. ‘Hole’ and ‘No Shame In Failure’ were full of catchy bass lines, before ending the set on ‘The Great Brain Robbery’, bringing another excellent set to a close.

Fellow Americans The Apache Relay were next to play and the first thing that struck you was the mixture of attire the band were sporting tonight and whilst most of the members had that US look about them, the singer was definitely digging a more British look. However that didn’t distract from the fact this was a set of brilliant songs, with a mixture of old and new. ‘Don’t Leave Me Now’ and ‘Ruby’ were full of melodic sounding guitars, whilst the addition of a fiddle on some of the tracks through the set, along with the keyboards brought with it a more southern sound. ‘American Nomad’ with the upbeat rhythm was a great accompaniment to the vocals, whilst ‘Katie Queen Of Tennessee’ and ‘As Good As Gold’ had more of that slightly southern vibe that runs as an undercurrent through the songs. ‘Lost Kid’ picked up the pace, making the songs sound so much more richer when actually played live. ‘Further North’ had more delicate keyboards over a melodic guitars and a punchy rhythm before ending on ‘Watering Hole’, completing a brilliant set.

Having supported the Kings Of Leon, The Weeks were back in the UK for their own headline tour and it was a packed set full of old and new songs, including a few that had never been played in the UK before. ‘Teary-Eyed Woman’, ‘Mercury’ and ‘Thief In My Mouth’ kicked off the set as the singer weaved across the stage in front of the crowd. With a slightly funky sounding bass, along with melodic keyboards, this gave the songs an upbeat feeling about them. With the guitarist and bassist both getting in the groove as well, ‘Brother In The Night’, Slave To The South’, Heard It All’, Start It Up’ and ‘Sevens’ was song after song of that excellent rock and roll sound the band have, before it was onto ‘The House We Grew Up In’ and ‘Ruth’. With shouts of “USA” from the crowd as the band mentioned they were over from the states, they also did the David Bowie cover ‘Rock And Roll Suicide’ with the singer from The Apache Relay helping out on the acoustic guitar. ‘Mississippi Rain’, ‘Stigmata’ and ‘White Ash’ were songs full of delectable guitars, which a catchy rhythm as the vocals swirled and glided through the tracks, and the crowd were dancing and swaying through the impressive amount of songs the band had managed to pack into the set so far. As The Joiners is a rather intimate venue where the bands actually walk through the crowd to get to the stage, The Weeks continued the set rather than do the encore bit and so it was left to ‘Altar Girl’ and ‘Buttons’ to be the last two songs of the night. With the bass player climbing on the amp during the final song in a very rock and roll way, this ended what had been an excellent set from The Weeks on the first night of their tour, and had absolutely delighted the crowd that had gone to see them.