Review and photography by Robert Barrett

They say that the third time is a charm, this point was proven as Hinds returned to Birmingham. With Sports Team as the high quality support, it was set to be another fun night at one of Birmingham’s newest venues The Mill.

Before the welcomed Spanish take over, London based Sports Team kicked things off. With his captivating onstage performance, frontman Alex Rice provided the perfect energetic warmup. Channelling his inner Mick Jagger, sprinkled with a topping of Gallagher, he sauntered across the stage. Songs such as ‘Kutcher’ and ‘Margate’ resonated with the audience. Sports Team are definitely ones to watch.

After the rousing warm up It was time for Hinds, who took to the stage all smiles as they broke out into an instrumental jam. As new track ‘Soberland’ started you could almost feel the joy radiate from the stage, even a few years into their career they still carry the same enthusiasm at every gig.

“Hello, this is the first time we haven’t played the usual Birmingham venue” announced Carlotta in an adorable Spanish accent. True that this wasn’t the Hare & Hounds they were so used too, but it didn’t take them long to own the place.

Crowd surfing, dancing, they did it all. “Over here you like to politely clap, in Spain we like to party” urged Ana. A heathy mix of songs from the debut ‘Leave Me Alone’ and latest album ‘I Don’t Run’ quickly whipped the crowd into a frenzy as desired.

As the show came to a close, the girls invited the crowd to come and meet them at the back. Then they preceded to dance whilst exiting the stage. Hinds wanted a party and they certainly caused one in Birmingham.

Set list:
Instrumental
Soberland
Chill Town
British Mind
Easy
San Diego
Garden
Linda
Spanish Bombs (The Clash Cover)
Tester
Rookie
The Club
Bamboo
Finally Floating
Castigadas en el Granero
New for You

(The original version of this article was first published on Gigjunkies http://www.gigjunkies.com/band-reviews/hinds-sports-team-at-the-mill-birmingham-uk-17th-november-2018/)