As the month drew to a close, Only The Poets had the perfect remedy for the January blues as they celebrated the release of their debut album with a hometown double-header.
Fans packed the paths of Gun Street, buzzing with discussions of the new release, which had come out just the day before, as they lined up outside the Purple Turtle bar. The Reading four-piece’s first ever gig was at this iconic venue, and so it was a full-circle moment for frontman Tommy Longhurst as the band first took to the stage that afternoon.
“It’s so good to be back here at the Purple Turtle,” Longhurst told the crowd. “Today’s all about celebrating the journey we’ve been on as a band, and we’ll continue doing that as long as you let us.”
But before the group rewarded loyal fans with live performances of their brand new tracks, five up-and-coming artists were preparing for the biggest gigs of their lives. A Battle of the Bands was underway, hosted by Only The Poets for the chance to support them in just over 48 hours at the O2 Brixton Academy in London.
“We will never stop championing young, independent talent,” Longhurst said. “Let’s keep celebrating these incredible unsigned artists.”
First to take to the stage was Feral Family, a three-piece from Yorkshire who opened the afternoon with a dark sound, heavy basslines and catchy guitar riffs and solos. Frontman Jamie Lowe donned sunglasses and an overcoat as he bellowed out lyrics reflecting the band’s bleak, sinister tone that they describe as akin to an ‘interplanetary apocalypse’. Admittedly, being only just after midday, it was a heavy start to the set of performances, but the wailing sound of Oscar Woods’ guitar and the measured drumming of Regan Grimson had the whole crowd buzzing and bopping their heads.
After their 4-song set concluded, Andrew ‘Roo’ Burge took to the stage to once again thank the fans for coming, and was the first to say something the band would reiterate throughout the rest of the evening- “We wouldn’t be here without you guys.”
He then introduced the next act, sister duo Baby Said, who had stage presence from the get-go with bassist Jess Pal’s bright purple guitar with glow-in-the-dark strings. Joined by Reading local Kēra Stewart on drums and Alfie Smith on guitar, Baby Said thundered their way through their set with all the confidence of a band that had been touring for decades. Anthemic tracks like Hate Me blended speech and strong vocal performances from both sisters brilliantly with a hardcore rock-and-roll percussive display and stellar guitar solos. The high-energy performance had the crowd hooked, seeming to be early favourites for the contest with a definitive ‘aww’ when Pal announced they were playing their last song.
Roo brought SEREN to the stage next, a vocalist who reminded me a lot of Olivia Dean’s recent performances. Listening to her studio releases online, SEREN’s work is usually a lot more stripped back- piano, acoustic guitar- but she didn’t seem out of place at all centrestage with the whole band behind her. Her song River was particularly poignant, a vulnerable reflection on how it feels to move away from your hometown- ‘left a quiet life for a city I don’t know’. Besides her incredible vocal performance, it was this songwriting that had a beautiful vulnerability, authenticity, the sort of shared experience that left the young people in the crowd, like me, hanging on for the next word because we could relate so well. This was most noticeable on the band’s closing track, Maybe, I Don’t Know, with members of the band sporting t-shirts with the song’s lyrics- a strong conclusion that no doubt would have left a good last impression for the voters in the audience.
Next introduced was Belle Dame, who, from the get-go, reminded me of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers with their melodic rhythms and bouncy, groovy indie sound. Frontman Edd Moreira had all the theatrics and Healy-ish onstage quirks befitting such a unique music style, and the Bristol quintet sounded really well polished. To have already established such a strong sound and identity is impressive, blending the indie and rock genres with tracks Calico and Tennessee standing out to me and the audience alike. More than anything, they just looked like they were having a blast up there; with Moreira playing the guitar behind his head, the band dancing in sync, the energy was infectious. It wasn’t long before the entire crowd was on their side, clapping along and joining in with the ‘Duh duh duh dah duh duhs’ of Mary Sue. All the bands made the most of the evening’s opportunity, but Belle Dame certainly seemed to own that stage during their set.
The final of the five performances was the smooth grooves of Semwanga and his band, and despite being perhaps the least established artist of the night, the South-East based singer-songwriter commanded the audience like a pro. His blend of indie and hip-hop sounds reminded me sonically of Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, particularly on 5ft 10 which had the whole crowd waving their hands side to side. His rapping was also impressive- track All About The Funk had a great rhythm, a groovy bassline and drums that were reminiscent of Gorillaz in the blend of the rock sound and rap. Between his wide grins at the crowd throughout the show and run through the audience before Get Out of Your Seat, you could tell Semwanga was having a great time- all the more cemented by his closing song, which evolved into a performance of The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) that had everyone, including the bar staff, singing along.
With the battle of the bands concluded and votes made, it was the thematic instrumental opener, And I’d Do It Again that foreshadowed the headliners’ entrance to the stage, the crowd hungry to hear the new tracks, many for the first time. As Only The Poets made their way in front of the iconic Purple Turtle logo, the room erupted with cheers, dozens of hands raising signs reading ‘WELCOME BACK HOME!!’ as frontman Longhurst thanked the crowd and launched straight into the set. Barely 24-hour-old tunes were belted out like classics – each person crammed onto the bar’s dancefloor reciting the lyrics of previously released singles Emotionally Hungover and I Keep On Messing It Up with all the fervour of Over & Over and JUMP!, some of the band’s older tracks.
The group’s time on stage seemed over all too soon, though it appeared most fans wouldn’t be waiting too long to see them again; the whole room boomed with whooping when Longhurst asked who’d be joining them at the second gig of the night, at the University of Reading’s 3SIXTY Student Union.
Doors opened at 7:30 that evening for the second part of this hometown double-header, and by the time I’d arrived at 8, the entire dancefloor was already filled shoulder to shoulder. Pedro Santos, who’d previously supported the band last year, again set the mood for Only The Poets with a brilliant set, a precursor to his upcoming tour throughout February.
“[It went] amazingly,” Santos told me after coming offstage. “It’s been the first time this year I’ve played to a crowd, so it was a lot of fun and with Only The Poets fans it’s always crazy, loud and amazing.”
“As humans, [Only The Poets] are incredible people,” Santos said, “They were the first support tour I did ever as a solo artist, and everyone made me feel extremely welcome.”
For an artist who only broke out on the solo scene in the last year or so, having departed boyband Here at Last, his rise has been somewhat astronomical, fans rejoicing with a loud cheer when Santos started playing a favourite track, The Way You Do. Speaking on his upcoming tour, Santos said he was “Excited… prepared, I just can’t wait to see so many people in the room, and to get to play the full hour instead of just half an hour.”
It wasn’t long before we heard the familiar synths of And I’d Do It Again mixing with screams and cheers of excited fans, the flickering white lights of the Poets’ staging beckoning first drummer Marcus Yates and bassist Roo Burge onstage, followed closely by Tommy Longhurst and guitarist Clem Cherry.
The new album’s penultimate track, I Keep On Messing It Up was first performed, and plaudits to the sound engineers at 3SIXTY – the music sounded incredible, Longhurst’s vocals crisp on the groovy 80s-pop beat and the crowd was fully immersed, singing along to the song’s titular chorus. They next took us back to 2023 with another performance of Over & Over, a gig-perfect single for the Reading boys back on home soil with the dedicated fans at the barrier echoing back its catchy ‘I don’t care if it’s a late night, long drive/I don’t mind another red eye to sunrise.’
After rattling through new tracks God Knows Where You Were, Don’t Wanna Know, and Emotionally Hungover, which were all welcomed by the union, packed wall to wall, Longhurst announced the results of the afternoon’s vote to support them in just two days in Brixton.
“It was so close with two acts,” he began, “That we decided to have the incredible SEREN and Belle Dame support us at the Brixton Academy!”
The resulting cheers led straight into the heavy synth intro of Bad, one of the new releases’ standout tracks, with its sound leaning darker and a vocal performance that showcases the best of the frontman’s range. Shadowed in red lighting, the boys looked grateful to finally be able to showcase a collection seven years in the making to a devoted hometown crowd that already knew every word.
The set was in full flow by this point, each song old and new rallying the full sound of the hundreds of voices in the audience. Numbers like Monumental and You Hate That I’m in Love garnered innate musical talent from the instrumentalists, whilst Thinking About Your Ex and Madeline drew out vulnerable, passionate vocals from Longhurst.
His standout performance of the evening, from my perspective, came on the song Saké, a track that seems destined for pop success. Standing at the mic stand, hands clasping the top and bopping his head side to side, you could feel a mutual understanding ring throughout the room: these four lads, who for so long had to graft working labour jobs to support their passion for making music, had really made it.
The whole evening went on to encapsulate this spirit, a celebration of the incredible journey that brought them to this very point, home, with a room full of adoring fans. 2024’s Gone By Now and the new Guess She’s Cool led us through to an encore, when the four-piece returned to perform a few fan favourites to close out the show. One More Night was the first of these, anthemic and fitting to the end of a brilliant 20+ run of tunes that night, whilst JUMP!, as it had at the Purple Turtle, was embraced as the classic it is.
“This band started very close to where we are now,” Longhurst told the crowd before performing the penultimate song. “It feels very special to be here celebrating our debut album with you now.”
The night then closed off with a song dedicated to where it all started, an homage to the place they’d only revisited just hours before – the opening lines to Emotional even more relatable to the Reading locals in the crowd – ‘Funny I ran into you, Friday, Midnight, Turtle’. With a mosh pit during its chorus to seal off the set, the lads blew kisses and waved to the crowd as they headed offstage, the sadly inevitable conclusion of what would surely always be a night to remember.
