The Joy Formidable brought their massive sound and incredibly energetic show to Union Transfer along with the bands Blood Red Shoes and You Won’t, both of which are two-piece bands. The UK rock band’s headlining tour is in support of their most recent critically acclaimed full-length titled Wolf’s Law which was released this past January on Atlantic Records. It’s a follow up to their incredibly dynamic debut-record “The Big Roar”, which was released exactly two years prior.
The night started off with the Cambridge, Massachusetts based low-fi/folk rock band You Won’t. While only comprised of two members, their songs featured more instrumentation than most. Drummer, Raky Sastri, was quite the spectacle to watch due to his ability to play drums while going between playing the harmonica, singing and using his laptop placed on his floor tom.
After You Won’t, things got a lot progressively louder as the UK duo Blood Red Shoes hit the stage. Guitarist Laura-Mary Carter and Drummer Steven Ansell both shared vocal duties and tore through a set full of high energy songs akin to Nirvana, Sonic Youth, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
The Joy Formidable played a 14-song set that was equally split between their two LP’s, Wolf’s Law and The Big Roar. Singer/guitarist Ritzy Bryan‘s stage presence was nothing short of charismatic, as she was constantly engaging with her band members and the audience. At one point she came off the stage to let the crowd play her guitar at the end of the song “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”, which ends with a long buildup of noise giving the song the ultimate payoff.
This tour was very well-curated, as each subsequent band progressively got louder and led into The Joy Formidable‘s set perfectly.
Words and photos by Blow The Scene‘s Jonathan Van Dine.
Blood Red Shoes
You Won’t
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