The Sunshine Underground
Drum & Monkey, Ipswich (15.04.06)

I've been following The Sunshine Underground since about November '05, eagerly awaiting for news of their next single, first album and of course where they were going to be touring. As I was looking over their myspace I spotted that they were going to be playing in my town, something that I not expecting to see at all. I knew as soon as I saw this gig was going to be local I knew I had to go to see what they were like live, and if they were anything like the demos that I had already got, I knew I would be in for a treat.

I'd never been to the venue before, as far as I had been aware, it was a pub and then got shut down because it was crap and often getting trashed after football matches. I did some research and found out that it had re-opened in March as a music venue, and that 10 years earlier it was originally a music venue, opening its first night in '96 with the then unknown Stereophonics. As expected the venue was rather small, but provided what was going to be a rather close up encounter with the band. There were 3 support bands, which were The Imaginaries, Dakota and the rather odd wrapping two-some, Yes Boss. It was gone midnight before TSU actually made it to the stage, but when they did, they certainly didn't disappoint.

The energy that was coming from their music and stage presence was awesome. Jumping all over the small platform, giving it all with the vocals, the atmosphere was quite something. Not knowing that many of the songs they played I took time to step back and enjoy the newness of it all, but when familiar songs such as 'My Army', 'Put You In Your Place' and 'Commercial Breakdown' I couldn't help but get into it.

For a band I didn't really know much about until that gig, I didn't really know what to expect from their stage personalities, but from this one gig its clear to see that they've got a real rock 'n roll attitude. Front man Craig Wellington has an attitude that just has that feeling of a guy who has a passion for what he's doing, and loves every minute on stage. The whole sound of the band was awesome, and I was really impressed with the quality of the sound that the venue was delivering. Overall this gig to me was something special, a relatively unknown band to the masses, but are sure to make an impact in the near future. Very much looking forward to the next single and the album too.

+ Review by Ryan

[Back To Live]