It’s the last date of Boston Manor’s UK tour celebrating their most recent release, Sundiver which came out earlier this month. The tour has taken them round the UK rounding it all of at the iconic Kentish Town Forum in London. Not only is this tour having the band play some of their largest shows of their career, it’s a special one for fans with support Trophy Eyes. The two bands were meant to tour together over 4 years ago with the shows being cancelled due to the pandemic so it’s been a long time coming for fans waiting for the two bands to tour together in the UK.
But first opening the night is a newer band onto the UK scene, Split Chain bringing their blend of grunge, shoegaze and nu metal to the stage as the room starts to fill up. With not many songs released the band is able to showcase their discography through their set, ending on a cover of Type O Negatives ‘I Don’t Want To Be Me’ While the band may be more new, they still seem right at home on the stage catching the attention of fans in the audience.
Opening with their newest single ‘Enmore’ the crowd immediately reacts. With fans enthusiastically singing along at the barrier, it’s clear that a large majority of people in this room are familiar with the Australian band. Following up with ‘Blue Eyed Boy’ from most recent album ‘Suicide and Sunshine’ you can hear the whole room singing back. The 11 song set highlights songs from throughout the band's discography giving a perfect mix of newer songs and older fan favourites. The set even features an appearance from Boston Manors vocalist Henry Cox during ‘Chlorine’ With the night's first crowd surfers and a chorus of people singing along it’s clear to everyone in attendance that it won’t be long till Trophy Eyes will be headlining rooms this size themselves.
With a tour celebrating the release of ‘Sundiver’ it’s fitting the band starts their set with opening track ‘Datura (Dawn)’. Despite the album not even being a month old it does not stop the crowd from perfectly reciting the words back to the band. Track ‘Container’ follows keeping up the energy in the 2000 capacity room. It does not take long till hoards of crowd surfers make their way over the barrier keeping the security on their toes. While the setlist mainly focuses on the bands two most recent albums some older fan favourites make their way into the mix. A highlight of the set is John Floreani coming on for this feature in ‘Liquid’ , a moment fans have been waiting for since the album's release in 2020, and the cancellation of the tour that was meant to follow. Multiple times in the set vocalist Henry Cox reflects on the band's career, bringing up how their first UK show was played down the road at The Black Heart to a handful of people and venues like this didn’t seem possible to them, noticing people in the crowd who have been going to their shows for years. While being able to headline a show like this is a huge milestone for the band, tonight's show proves they will continue to grow and will be achieving even bigger things as their career progresses.
