Kingston, UK – Excitement grew in anticipation for the second, sold-out Alt-J gig of the evening. The hordes of people trickled slowly into the venue, grabbing a drink from the bar as they went. The band joyously entered the stage right on time launching immediately into “Tessellate”, everyone nodded their heads and swayed to the hypnotic music. A raucous cheer filled the venue with the band taking a second to welcome everyone to the gig. ‘Let’s do this’, called Newman before the band launched joyously into “U&ME.
Alt-J is an Indie rock band from Leeds, England. They have gained a passionate audience since forming in 2007 and won the British Mercury Prize in 2012 for their album Awesome Wave the band. Comprised of Joe Newman – Guitar and lead vocals, Thom Sonny Green – Drums and Gus Unger-Hamilton – Keyboards and vocals, the trio put on an incredible ‘intimate’ performance at Pryzm in Kingston that evening. Hosted by Banquet Records, a small record shop on the Kingston Highstreet, the band made sure to show their gratitude towards the company for allowing them to play.
“U&ME” was soon followed by “3WW” and “Chicago” which pulled an incredible reaction from the lively crowd, with “Something Good” getting everyone moving, even the Banquet Records staff were dancing along. “Ok Kingston, do you want to sing along with me?” questioned Newman. “This is from” he began pointing to the left side of the room, “This is from” Newman repeated pointing to the right side, “This is from Matilda” the audience called back. The band calmly followed into “Matilda”, stopping only a few seconds in with Newman admitting, “I fucked this up”. Starting again the band successfully launched into “Matilda”.
“Thank you very much. If you’re here tonight that means you bought our album, so thank you. I am also told that you guys are the people who bought the album first before the early show, so thank you again for being extra hardcore. So we’re going to play a song from the album that we don’t always play at our gigs, you know it’s a bit of a quiet one, but as its more intimate we thought we would share it with you, it’s called “Get Better”. Newman applauded as the band launched into an incredibly beautiful and soft song. Launching quickly into “Dissolve Me”, the energy in the room picked back up and once again everyone was dancing, even the staff. “Left Hand Free” and “Hard Drive Gold” followed closely, getting the whole room clapping along. As the band left the stage, a cheer of ‘One more song’ broke out. Obliging, the band came back out to perform “Breezeblocks”, which ultimately bought an amazing gig to a close.
An incredible band mixed with a great venue as well as kind, helpful staff made the night unforgettable!
Show Date: July 6, 2022
