In the quirky venue that is The Leadmill, Room 94 put on an energetic performance to an excited crowd, mixing the old with the new, and reminding music fans how special gigs are.
With three support acts Room 94 did a good job in showcasing up and coming talent, with performances from For The Girl, Deadset Dream and Bronnie – the latter supporting Little Mix on their arena tour earlier in the year. Room 94 are themselves not strangers to support acts having played alongside Lawson and Union J in the past.
Fans of the band wouldn’t have left the venue disappointed. Kieran Lemon (lead vocals), Sean Lemon (lead guitar), Dean Lemon (drums) and Kit Tanton (bass) performed a variety of old and new tracks so there was something to please everyone. They opened with You’re Not Alone, an upbeat and exciting track off their fourth album Lost Youth which was released last year – It’s a song which got the audience going and had everyone bobbing and rocking their heads.
It was followed by Tonight, Monday, Too Young, and When I Was A Teenager. New tracks Love Is An Island and Electric followed next, both tracks have the Room 94 sound but with a modern, electronic twist – a new direction for the band and one you can tell they are having fun trying out. Maybe not their strongest performances, but you would expect that when they’ve only played them live a handful of times.
2am was followed by Do You Feel Alive – it’s one of their strongest tracks and the live version did not disappoint. From a crowd point of view it was one that got one of the biggest reactions and it seemed almost everyone (except for maybe the odd mum or dad) was singing along.
After performing a new track Burnin’ Me Out they ended their 12 song set with old school songs that really got a reaction from the crowd, both Dirty Dancing and Chasing The Summer are fun, upbeat tracks that are great to have a little boogey and sing along to.
While they performed a mixture of both of new songs one thing that was missing, for me anyway, was a cover. Usually one of the most exciting things about gigs because it’s always fun to see how bands put their own twist on popular songs – but maybe they didn’t need it, they got the crowd bouncing on their own songs.
One of the stand out points for me during the night was the acknowledgement of live music, even in small venues, and going to see music live rather than streaming it online or listening to it on phones and tablets. It’s a point Kieran picked up on brilliantly; while it’s easy to listen to music anytime and anywhere, going to see bands live is so much more exciting.
If you’re a fan of Room 94 then you are not going to be disappointed with this tour or the set list – there’s something for everyone. They mix an equal amount of songs with jokes and stories (there was one about throwing up in a vase and even about cheese strings – how do you eat them though?!) so while this tour is much about their music, it’s also about their personalities and sharing the experience with them. All in all a great gig full of energy, and the bands personalities, especially Kieran’s really shine through.
Rose & Thorn 