Music / Review
Review: Circa Waves, O2 Academy – ‘Even a decade later the band are still captivating music lovers’
We saw the return of Circa Waves perform in Bristol as they performed their sold out show at the O2 Academy.
The gig which was due to have taken place in February, but was rescheduled due to lead singer Kieran Shudall being admitted to hospital in January, was definitely worth the wait.
The four-piece Liverpudlian band performed 19 singles with six of them from their 2023 released album, Never Going Under, whereas many were off their older albums which went down a treat for many long term fans of the group.
The band performed fan favourites, Fossils, Movies and of course T-Shirt Weather, which was very fitting in the extremely warm venue.
The crowd were fully engaged and dancing away to each track, many mosh pits were formed and even a rogue crowd surfer emerged from the crowd.
T-Shirt Weather which was the final song to be performed brought back lots of nostalgia and allowed those to not only reminisce about summers before but also get excited for this year.
What could be more fitting than singing a song about t-shirt weather (quite literally), whilst standing in a t-shirt at the very start of summer? Nothing.
Support came from Northern bands Courting and Cassia who were both very strong support acts.
Both bands had a dominant stage presence and if you didn’t know who Circa Waves were you could be fooled into thinking Cassia were in fact them.
Cassia performed a new track, High Tones, which was released only an hour prior to them taking to the stage. It has that perfect summer, laid back vibe with an edgy undertone, definitely a song to vibe to this summer.
Pleasantly, the set up time between each act felt a lot shorter than other gigs which was much appreciated when standing in what felt like a sauna.
The band who formed in 2013 have proven with this tour and in particular their Bristol gig that they won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
With many of the gig goers clearly in their early twenties, it’s shown that even a decade later the band are still captivating music lovers and growing their audience.
With the release of their latest album I think we can expect to see the band make more trips to Bristol.
Main photo: Georgia Attiwell
Read next:
- Sir Chloe, Thekla – ‘A multi textured, magically-dark bouncy rock band’
- Review: The Royston Club, Rough Trade – ‘The audience took to the band like it was a homecoming gig’
- Review: Maddie Morris, St George’s – ‘A socially conscious songwriter’
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