Nothing But Thieves at the Turf Club, St. Paul (22 May 2016)
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tour poster
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Essex, UK band Nothing But Thieves didn’t have to commit any crimes to attract attention- the band is gaining more than enough on their own, clearly on the rise and obviously already playing too small a venue, on their recent sold-out stop to the Turf Club in St. Paul.
The evening started with a raucous and well-received set from Los Angeles band The Wrecks, who recently released their debut three-song EP, We are the Wrecks (on Snorebox Records).
The five-piece (Nick Anderson, Aaron Kelley, Nick Schmidt, Harrison Nussbaum, and Billy Nally) came out strong with ‘Wasted’ to start their eight-song set, working in a Lionel Richie cover in mid-set that ramped from gentle to rough-and-tumble, played the unreleased ‘James Dean’ (just written before heading out on the road), and ended with single, ‘Favorite Liar’, which is starting to turn heads and gain radio airplay.
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Nothing But Thieves
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Scratching the ‘Itch’ right away, Nothing But Thieves started their hour-long set with the driving track from their self-titled debut (on RCA Records), singer Conor Mason’s howling wails immediately evident.
The band’s big room sound is unabashedly rock, taking some of the bombast of Muse (NBT opened for the band in arenas recently) with Mason sounding part Matt Bellamy, part Jeff Buckley with a dash of The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, in a style that completely suits their forge ahead sound.
The duel guitars of Joe Langridge-Brown and Dominic Craik complimented each other well all evening, reminiscent of Def Leppard’s Phil Collen and Steve Clark back in the ‘80s, in some ways. “This is a whole lot of people in this building!” singer Mason remarked, surveying the crowd before launching into a hypnotic ‘Hanging’.
“We’re essentially a baby band, so we wanted to give something to you, ‘cause we’re new” Mason said, “Are there any Pixies fans in the house?” he asked, before the band launched into ‘Where is my Mind’, with Mason’s voice sounding much closer to Frank Black’s, than first imagined.
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Setlist
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‘Wake Up Call’, the band’s next US single, ended the band’s main set with its booming bass drum and jagged guitar intro, and is unsurprisingly the most-added track this week, at Alternative Radio.
After crowd chants of “N-B-T!” the band re-emerged for their encore, Mason impressed how loud the crowd was in asking them back. The track ‘Lover’ was a quiet lilting mostly acoustic number that was one of the band’s earliest songs and an ideal vehicle to showcase Mason’s high-to-low vocal range.
“If you know this next one, please sing it very loudly” Mason said before ‘Trip Switch’ which has topped Billboard’s Alternative Chart and currently receives airplay on several area alt- and active rock stations. ‘Ban the Music’ ended the show, leaving an enthusiastic and exhausted crowd still hungry for more.
If you missed a chance to see Nothing But Thieves on their club tour, you’re probably too late to see them in venues this small, as they are destined for bigger rooms in the U.S. like is already happening abroad, but will be no less entertaining, no matter the place played.
Nothing But Thieves’ remaining tour dates:
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05/27/16 Napa, CA “BottleRock Napa Valley” 05/27/16 Napa, CA Napa Valley Opera House 06/11/16 Landgraaf, Netherlands “Pinkpop” 06/16/16 Bergen, Norway “Bergenfest” 06/18/16 Madrid, Spain “Mad Cool Festival” 06/30/16 St. Gallen “Open Air St. Gallen” 07/01/16 Gdynia, Poland “Open’er Festival” 07/06/16 Kiev, Ukraine “U-Park Festival” 07/09/16 Moscow, Russia “Park Live” 07/10/16 Turku, Finland “Ruisrock Festival” 07/15/16 “Colours Of Ostrava Festival” 07/15/16 Wiesen, Austria “Out Of The Woods” 07/20/16 Melbourne, Australia Ding Dong Lounge |
07/21/16 Sydney, Australia Oxford Art Factory
07/22/16 Bankstown “Splendour In The Grass” 07/23/16 Detroit, MI West “Mo Pop Festival” 07/27/16 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop 07/30/16 Chicago, IL “Lollapalooza” 08/02/16 Toronto, ON Velvet Underground 08/03/16 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground 08/04/16 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall 08/05/16 Providence, RI Waterplace Park 08/06/16 Montauk, NY The Surf Lodge 08/20/16 Osaka, Japan “Summer Sonic” 08/21/16 Chiba, Japan “Summer Sonic” 08/26/16 Reading, UK “Reading Festival” 08/27/16 Leeds, UK “Leeds Festival” |
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Nothing But Thieves at The Turf Club, St. Paul (22 May 2016) |