Kindred Shins

02.05.2015

Those loveable tramps Kindred Shins found a place to shelter from the mean streets of London for the evening and in return for such kindness, played an excellent set. With a free glass of champagne to get the crowd in a party mood, this was the only gig to be at on Saturday night.

With a sizeable crowd in attendance, there was no mistaking the majority were there to see Kindred Shins, and with a set packed full of their excellent style of rock, the long wait to see them was worth every minute. Kicking off the evening with ‘Bandito’, singer Sonny was charismatic, charming and drawing the audience into the songs from the very first note. Having to share the stage with the somewhat large DJ booth, drummer Leon was tucked away in the corner but still very much made his presence felt with the pounding drums and brilliant harmonies, whilst bassist Dave bounced across the small stage the entire set. With Sonny resting his head on guitarist Dave’s shoulders at times whilst still playing their killer sounding guitars, all eyes were on the band as the crisp sounding guitars and vocals filled the venue and the crowd danced along with equal enthusiasm. With a song so new it was yet to be given a title, exclusively and quite possibly for this one gig only, the impulsively named ‘All In The Wrist’ showed every one there that the much anticipated second EP is going to be even better than the first, if that is entirely possible. With its upbeat sound, hearing it gave a frisson of excitement and pleased with the response to it, Sonny gave Dave, well a rather passionate kiss which brought whoops of delight from the crowd. ‘Sweet And The Strange’ with its hypnotic start and delicious sounding vocals, saw the crowd move along to every beat, as the vocals full of raw emotion cascaded across the room.

New single ‘Hang Me Out To Dry’ was every bit as awesome live, with its infectious beat and anthemic chorus, the monster guitars come into their own on this track, and if ever there was a song that was made for being played live, it is this one. However wondering perhaps if they had peaked too early, Kindred Shins then managed to follow such greatness with even more of their epic sound throughout ‘At A Girl’, before swiftly moving onto ‘The Smoker Never Quits’, raising the tempo as the beat thumped its way through the track and the band absolutely owned the place by this point. Final song ‘The Spitter’ saw them throw everything they had at this, with their rock star moves, more resting of heads, and a final tear up of thrashing guitars brought the set to an end far too soon. With the crowd continuing to call out for more after such a stunning performance, all hope of this was extinguished when the 60’s songs played during the interval once more filled the venue.

As the words “I just don’t want you to leave” were sung during ‘Sweet And The Strange’, this perfectly summed up how you felt watching this electrifying set from the band, you just wanted them to keep playing, such was the brilliance of seeing them live. It won’t be long before they are headlining at Koko across the road from The Purple Turtle, as Kindred Shins are a band destined to play far bigger venues than this.