Sheffield’s ‘adopted’ indie punk band ‘BlackWaters’ delivered an intimate December gig at the hidden Nottingham Arts Bar ‘The Chameleon’.
Just off Market Square, intertwined in the retail shops of Nottingham, I listened to the BlackWaters December show, part of their UK tour.
After grabbing a fruity cider and climbing the stairs to the small gig room on the top floor, I was greeted with a room full of very cool people, to which I looked very out of place in my pink North Face puffa.
I listened first to two support acts. Femur Band, was a mixture of psychedelic garage and doomy post-punk sounds. A feminist pun followed named Babe Punch, who delivered an electric female empowered performance with many infectious choruses.
At 9:40pm, running slightly late due to some technical issues, BlackWaters took to the stage. The four piece band plus their temporary tour member Bailey on the electric keys, opened with a song from their new album, All the wrong people.
After another new song ‘Same Old’, the band played a couple of their classic indie singles ‘Forget Myself’ and ‘F*ck Yeah’. The show was then intersected by BlackWaters’ new sound, progressing into a punk rock set. And then, it turned theatrical.
Vocalist Max Tanner digressed from his standing position and suddenly he was sat on ground singing to the audience. Then, as if he has been injected with electricity, Max started to jump around under the naked light bulb and at one point leaped into the crowd.
The energy remain high for the rest of the performance. BlackWaters played a couple more songs from their new album and ended with ‘Something Good in Lost Time’.
After their Nottingham performance, the band went on to play in Sheffield, Manchester, London, Guildford, Bristol and finally in Brighton to finish off there UK tour before Christmas.
by Sophie Watson
