Review and Photography by Robert Barrett

Everything Everything had gigs at Cardiff Castle, The Hundreds cricket, Old Trafford and Boardmaster’s on the schedule within a single week. With a line up like that you might expect them to play safe at their smallest show squidged right in the middle at Coventry’s Kasbah. A que of fans lined up outside decked in old tour t-shirts, little did they know they were about to catch the band bringing their A game in this small setting.

The impressive LED light show of the main room kept the crowd entertained as they struggled to comprehend why the bar is still cash only. It wasn’t long before PARADE took to the stage. The local lads got a rapturous reception from the growing crowd full of Everything Everything fans and friends/family members. Their brand of electropop went down well especially the track “colours”, with its chorus yearning for travel to Berlin and San Diego sounding like a perfect post lockdown anthem.

Always one for the theatrics Everything Everything came out in matching boilersuits and launched into “RE-ANIMATORS” opening track “Lost Powers”. The one two punch of “Cough Cough” and “Get to Heaven” kicked the party off properly. The band were as slick as ever even after an extended time away from playing. I’ve been lucky to catch them on every tour since debut “Man Alive” and can easily say Jonathan’s high falsetto sounding the best it ever has.  

There wasn’t much time for stage banter, apart from a few thank you’s the band were focused on bringing out all the favourites and chucking in a couple of recent tracks for good measure. Even the first two albums were represented by early single “MY KZ UR BF” leading into one of the many singalongs. In fact the crowds enthusiasm had lead singer Jonathan pushing his mic towards them, they seemed to be revelling in the more intimate setting.

A thrilling performance of “No Reptiles” closed the set, I honestly have respect for the fans next to me that sang along with the opening bars as I’ve never been able to understand them. It may not have been the most important gig in their calendar but Everything Everything brought a festival sized show to a club sized room full of die hard fans. A truly class act.