Friday, 1 March 2019

White Lies Five Tour 2019- The UK Tour Report

White Lies -Five Tour UK

 February 2019

Leeds,Liverpool,Manchester, and Birmingham.

 

 

Last summer I went to London' to see an intimate show in 'Portobello' the band showcased potential single 'Believe It' the crowd loved it and we knew they'd come back with a belter album.

 

 

7 Months later 9 songs on their 5th album surfaced in the lead up to the albums release and the lead up to a full UK Tour, the most recent of those songs is what I consider to be their most relevant Lead single in years 'Tokyo' with a stormer of a chorus that track has a life of it's own.

 

 

The bands tour featured a 'Vip Experience' where fans could meet the band, watch the soundcheck and get items signed,ideal for those with families and those that couldn't stay back late to meet them after their shows and unique opportunity to chat with the band.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 















 
 

 

 

One thing I did notice is that due to bad weather and looming 'HMV' Administration (Now Thankfully saved by a lucrative business deal) The Pre-orders hadn't filtered through to everyone so I hadn't listened to most of tracks before my 1st show.  

 

 
 
 

Leeds Academy tonight I'm looking forward to hearing the new material in full, in soundcheck I already had a sneak peek of 'Time To Give' 'Kick Me' and 'Jo' for the first time played live,  As we go back in for the main show the venue fills up on the floor and support band 'Boniface' come onto the stage at 7.30pm, they are from 'Winniepeg' Canada they remind me of 'Wild Beasts' vs early 'White Lies'.

 
  

 

They play a half an hour set with some memorable moments in between one such moment was noticing their drummer had borrowed 'Jack's' Drum kit from the previous Tour (the blue one from 2013-2017 tours) Yes I know I'm sad for noticing this.

 

 

The band start earlier tonight 8.20pm start because they promise us a longer set, the music in the background as they arrive on stage is 'Talk Talk' 'Give It Up' (before singer Mark Hollis had sadly passed away later this month, the band were always huge fans of his work ).

 

 

They kick off with 'Time To Give' followed by the smash 'Farewell To The Fairground' and 'Believe It' and from 'Big TV' album 'There Goes Our Love Again', quite a few from the last album 'Friends' including 'Take It Out On Me'.

 
 
 
 

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 They are still perfecting and tweeking the new set as the tour rolls on but the new songs are well received by the crowd, 'Bigger Than Us' was further up the set before the encore and they had closed with 'To Lose My Life' for that show instead, I thought it was a clever move, as was the lighting crew's clever illumination of the album's 'Five' sign in Braille not seen until show 3 by myself.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

 Moving on to 'Liverpool' next after playing a few dates I couldn't link up to.

 

 

Tonight's venue is Liverpool Olympia Theatre quite beautiful and atmospheric hidden on the outskirts of 'Liverpool' away from the busy city centre (It was a remote area to get to) the crowd enjoying it not as loud as the Leeds lot, although a few fans were having a mosh towards the back, late comers with beers in hand no doubt, tonight though 'Finish Line' is not quite lifting this mainly scouse crowd.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 Manchester and tonights show at venue favourite 'Albert Hall' is totally 'Sold Out' , Vip is Sold Out the crowd tonight are on fire singing all the words, I notice the fans on the balcony really into it that it actually feels like they are with us on the floor it's a fantastic atmosphere.

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

Especially during the singles 'Unfinished Business' and 'To Lose My Life' (which had now moved back to before the encore where it was before ) the new songs 'Kick Me' and 'Jo' and 'Never Alone' sounded stronger and 'Tokyo' blew the roof off the place the bands joy at the crowd receivership of the new songs was visable to see, 'Death' was a belter the crowd moved, what I haven't mentioned yet was the special solo of 'Change' that 'Harry' performs on 'Tommy's now seated keyboards, he walks on and says "It's just me, hope that's ok this is a song from our third album", shyly he takes a seat and begins the emotive 'Change' under Blue lighting and minimal atmosphere it worked very well too.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 

 

During the encore my fav new song 'Fire & Wings' is truly taking shape as the gear shifts up and 'Harry's newly honed guitar skills reminiscent of  strains of  'Pink Floyd' and 'Jack's truly epic drumming bring the song to a crescendo, before closing with 'Bigger Than Us' and promising they will be back soon.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 



 

 

 

A few days later my last stop is 'Birmingham Institute' and again Vip Sold Out ,the crowd again lively as I found out from 'Tommy' that I miss half of whats going on behind me being at the front,there were some blokes hugging and singing to each shouting the words during 'Unfinished Business' and apparently a circle pit in 'Manchester' well I can believe that lol.

 

 

During the show tonight as the encore was due to start people were stamping their feet asking for more , a superb show had by all but 'Finish Line' now dropped out from the set but there was a noticeable shift in the energy the crowd were alive.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 


 

 

 

It's more than a little possible the lads will tour again in some capacity at end of the year to celebrate their ten years whether that will be a big tour or take in small venues locally I'm not sure yet neither are they, but they want to mark it.

 

 

There is no band quite like 'White Lies' they are the most giving passionate rock band I've had the pleasure to know for 10 yrs, so that's it for now I'm sure I'll see them sooner than later 😉 but til then see you soon music lovers !!!

 
 
 
 
 

 

LMi xo

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