It’s been four years since Against The Current parted ways with their record company, heading out on their own. That severance has done nothing to slow them down, with a packed to the rafters O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire ready to receive, the Poughkeepsie trio were in turn ready to impress.
Daydreamers stepped out on stage to an almost capacity crowd. Bringing with them, beautiful indie vibes that not so much got the room going as entranced at large.
With their debut album Have You Tried Screaming less than six months old, the London based band acknowledged their hometown show on the tour, as singer and guitarist Riley (Hugh Reilly-Smith) continued “So cool to be in this room, honestly”
To the title track of the new album, the clap alongs started and featured on many of the tracks, including ‘Beautiful Agony’.
“I didn't take up smoking on my time off!” Chrissy Costanza of Against The Current laughed after a killer opening duo of ‘Fortune Favours the Brave’ and ‘Dead Man Walking’, both from new album Till Death & Back. Her self-defence necessary with her voice sounding somewhat raspy after reaching the end of the UK leg of the tour. Explaining that she had had a doctor's visit the same day, and discovered pre-nodules on her vocal chords, she admitted the culprit may have been the new songs and how high they push her voice.
Because of these issues, the setlists over the past few dates have been changeable, with a little less of the new album featuring, and a few notable favourites also off the roster. With space for all eras of ATC though, Costanza introduced ‘Talk’ as one of their formative tracks, from the 2015 album Gravity.
The stage setup too was notable, nothing too gourdy or over the top, but a season-appropriate smattering of spooky tree backdrop and LED crosses scattered across the stage, the theatrics suited the band perfectly.
“So we did something pretty cool a week ago, we put out our third full length album and it's our first album in 8 years.” Costanza grinned, leading the band into ‘Always You & I’. This very serious moment about human connection was followed by a bit of levity with a chant of ‘shoe, shoe, shoe…!’ From the crowd as the mosh pit attempted to reunite the footwear with its owner between songs.
With a whole room sing-along to ‘lullaby’, the latter half of the set saw Costanza pushing her vocals but in a controlled and professional way. The UK leg may be over, but the EU part of the tour is yet to begin so the preservation of her singing abilities is pretty important over the next couple of weeks.
On ‘blindfolded’, the topic changed to the split from the record company and how being told they ‘‘weren't a vinyl band’’ inspired the band to make the jump into independence (vinyl of the new album available at the merch desk by the way).
“The EP that this song is named after took us all around the world when we were 18” Costanza mused before phone lights all around the room went up for ‘Gravity’. Written about a book character -‘Protégé’ and ‘Legends Never Die’- a song written for the 2017 League of Legends World Championship, the latter part of the set brought an interesting mix of storytelling tracks.
Ending on ‘weapon’ from the 2021 album fever, the efforts that Costanza and the rest of the band went to, to ensure the show must go on, not only on this tour, but through their career is part of the reason so many remain loyal, and will continue to whatever the future brings.
Words by Imogen Bird
Photos by Florelle Servaeon
