Words by Cesilia Oriana Trecaquista
On an unusually mild but miserably wet night, I venture out to The Rainbow Warehouse, to attend the much hyped gig of Birmingham Indie starlets – Peace.
Upon entry it was evident the foursome had a following; the venue almost filled to capacity with teenage fans sporting identical haircuts/skinny jeans combos. The club night ‘FACE’ was to follow with DJ’s after the live bands (which included support from Jaws, Junk, Wide Eyed and Heavy waves).
Whilst waiting for the bands to start, I witness a swarm of teenagers scrambling to show their passports in exchange for a can of Strongbow, and girls in the toilet applying their eyeliner with the use of a ‘Sharpy’ pen. How disconnected do I feel from the youth of today?
Peace take to the stage around 11pm, donned in Christmas hats and tinsel; received by an excitable (very drunk) audience. They opened with ‘Wraith’, the debut single to be released in 2013 from the album of the same name.
The crowd go wild, inciting the heavy (albeit necessary) security presence to step into action; takes the emphasis away from the band on stage. I also struggled to decipher the lyrics to the opening number; amidst the screams and chants of the crowd, and the overdone backline in the mix.
The use of Mariah Carey’s ‘All I want for Christmas’ as an introduction to ‘Follow Baby’ was well received; I guess at Yuletide nobody is too cool to resist wailing along. Futile attempts to crowd surf are then undertaken by Peace‘s boisterous fans, getting them immediately ejected via the stage.
Crowd surfing continued to be the theme of the evening, as during the Stone Rosesesque ‘Ocean’s Eye’, a barrier was lifted over the huge crowds and ejected from the building:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IknuifK8EpI
Peace’s catchy new song ‘Toxic’ got a debut shortly after, leaving the lyrics “all I got to do, all I got to do is forget you” playing over and over in my mind long after it had finished.
Before continuing, Peace’s lead singer, Harrison Koisser, made a short appeal for calm – instructing the crowd to move back from the stage. A prudent announcement, but one hard to decipher at the near pitch black (but much safer) back of the audience.
Peace then perform their well-received version of the Binary Finary dance track ‘1998’, before finishing off with ‘Bloodshake’.
Peace are currently under a very bright local limelight, and were certainly well supported at The Rainbow. But it was a bizarre sight to see the band accompanied on stage, the whole time, by at least three huge security guards; Harrison Koisser giving it his all next to and a luminous coated 6-footer.
And despite all the NME hyperbole, I couldn’t see much more than an amalgamation of the usual Indie suspects; with maybe a bit of Two Door Cinema Club thrown in.
But strapped firmly to the top of Columbia’s New Year Resolution list, Peace will reign in 2013 regardless – but for how long…
Peace will be opening the NME Awards Tour 2013, coming to the Birmingham O2 Academy on Feb 16th, for info and tickets visit http://www.nme.com/awards/tour
For more on Peace, visit http://peaceforeverever.co.uk
For more gigs form Birmingham Promoters, visit http://birminghampromoters.com
For more events at The Rainbow, visit http://therainbowvenues.co.uk