The Clause
The lights dim and the music fades. Silhouette like shadows walk on stage, painfully slowly as if they are teasing us, making us wait even longer. People scream, and the first riff was played. Goosebumps. That is a feeling that cannot be matched. It is simply ‘Electric’.
At a high school in the West Midlands many years ago, four teenage boys wrote a song called ‘Where Are You Now?’. And where are they now? Touring the UK as an award winning indie rock band, singing that same song.
I was ‘In My Element’ at the Waterfront watching The Clause. At such a small and intimate venue, you can feel the anticipation as soon as you walk into the room.
At 7.45 Archy And The Astronauts played their warm up set. This is a band I was not familiar with, but will definitely be listening to them now. Their style is gritty and explosive, and they were a surprisingly easy listen. They were similar to The Clause in terms of having a grungy almost chaotic feel. They take inspiration from bands like Queens of the Stone Age and Royal Blood.
Keyside entered the stage with a bang at 8.30, playing fan favourites, most of which I knew. They were similarly engaging, and even played new songs such as ‘Rock My Love’ live for the first time ever. This band have a clever way of fusing intense heavy metal style sounds with the intimate story telling of their lyrics.
My favourite part of any concert is waiting for the main band to arrive on stage. Listening to the excited chatter of the crowd and people singing along to indie songs playing from Oasis, Blur and Queen. There is a strange sense of community among strangers, as we are all connected by the love of a band.
And then the magic happens. The lights dim and the music fades. Silhouette like shadows walk on stage, painfully slowly as if they are teasing us, making us wait even longer. People scream, and the first riff was played. Goosebumps. That is a feeling that cannot be matched. It is simply ‘Electric’.
The Clause opened with my personal favourite song ‘Tell Me What You Want’. I knew it would be a good night from the opening number because the atmosphere was unmatched. As soon as this song ended, fans were chanting “here we, here we, here we fuck*ng go!” - we all felt that same adrenaline rush.
Interestingly, The Clause is one of few bands catering to the cross generational divide. They played to a tight crowd of people from all ages - as a uni student I went with my dad and neither of us felt out of place. The crowd was incredibly diverse, men and women my age created a mosh pit, but even older folks couldn’t resist having a dance. The reason I love indie music so much is that it’s impossible to not tap your foot, punch the air and jump to such music.
A lot of people it seemed, like me, went with their parents. Perhaps this is because their music simultaneously has the nostalgic feeling of 80’s rock and modern indie. The band themselves have described their music to have “a 60s swagger, an 80s groove and a 90s attack”.
What I often like about going to concerts where slightly older people surround me is that they are living in the moment. I noticed that people my age were holding their phones and taking photos and videos for their social media. But people in the older generation were just watching the band in awe instead of through a screen.
Front man Pearce Macca had an incredible way of keeping the crowd engaged until the final song. What sets him apart from other lead singers I have seen perform is the fact he sang every word.
Having been to many concerts where singers hold the microphone to the audience and let us sing, it was refreshing to hear him attack every single lyric.
I would like to see how The Clauses performance would change in a bigger stadium show. Having seen them as a warm up band for The K’s back in October (where they were equally as amazing), they do really well at getting a crowd going who are in close proximity. They are unbelievable when you are so close to them, but it would be interesting to go to a bigger show to see how they differ. If you do get the chance to see The Clause, I cannot recommend it enough as a night of great music surrounded by great people.
Playing at the Waterfront, where there's no distracting light shows or big sets, the band had to rely on their raw talent alone. At times, it felt like it was just me and the band in the room because it was just four people performing some of my favourite songs. No fancy lighting, no excessive staging, no distractions. Just four men giving the people of Norwich the ‘Time of Our Lives’.
