Review | Back to basics approach serves The Sherlocks well at The Wedgewood Rooms, Southsea
They are known for playing the biggest venues and festivals, but Yorkshire rockers The Sherlocks also like to go back to basics.
Currently touring some of the country’s best-loved intimate music spots, their return to Southsea marks nine years since first playing here.
Then, they were an unsigned band on the verge of a debut record and music deal. Now, five albums later, including this year’s top four hit Everything Must Make Sense!, they came back to the start with a blistering set of killer tunes.
But some things do not change, and frontman Kiaran Crook, his brother and drummer Brandon, lead guitarist Alex Procter and bassist Trent Jackson thrilled with classic numbers like Live For The Moment, Nobody Knows and Chasing Shadows.
Big hitter Sirens, one of the band’s best songs in recent times, is a monster of a tune, while Man On The Loose and Falling, with their soaring choruses, are right up there too.
Meanwhile, the unwavering adoration for Don’t Let It Out and NYC are revelatory, and there was a rare reprisal for their second album track Dreams.
As they showed at last year’s Victorious Festival, this band has set lists made for the biggest stages.
There was even room for one new unnamed number, catching even the most ardent fans by surprise, and possibly an early clue to the sound of album six.
It is rare for an established act to undertake what lead singer Kiaran called a “throwback tour,” but free of the constraints of record labels, here is an independent band still supporting grass roots and new musicians like tour openers The Jacques.
And with four top ten albums and their own headline festival in Sheffield in June next year, doing things their own way is a tactic that seems to be working.