Such Gold & Transit, Live at Four Bars Cardiff
22 May 2015
It was the final night of tour for the guys in Such Gold and Transit who had embarked on a co-headline run of the UK. The venue was quite packed out despite the fact that the show was not sold out. Such Gold who have made quite a name for themselves in the pop-punk scene were second on stage after a delightful opening set by Crooks. The band initiate their set with an angst filled set starting off with the song ‘Storyteller’ from their 2012 release Misadventures. The performance definitely sets the spirit for the rest of the night. The band remain zestful throughout their set and the crowd bop along to the well executed melodies from the stage. There is a lot of interaction between the crowd and the band through the front row of the audience huddling together to shout lyrics at front man Ben Kotin. The band bring out a showcase not only play older material but bring out well loved newer tracks from their new LP The New Sidewalk such as ‘Nauseating’ and ‘No Cab Fare’ that the audience throughly enjoy. Although this is is a co-headline tour, the band manage to effortlessly electrify the crowd in anticipation for Transit.
In the short break in between both of the bands, the crowd rush off quickly to grab some beers, dashing back swiftly to their sacred crowd space. After a quick change of gear on stage, Transit take stage launching straight into their latest album Joyride with their track ‘The Only One’ followed shortly by ‘Too little, too late’. Frontman Joe Boynton has a strong stage presence and engages the crowd between each song by speaking about the context of the songs and telling tales of the tour that is about to come to an end. He also questioned the crowd asking them how many times they had seen the band live and thanked them from coming out even if it were their first time seeing them. The band were able to perform each and every track to perfection. The heartfelt edge to their songs resonates in the vocals and emotions displayed by Boynton throughout the set. The crowd goes absolutely wild during ‘Nothing Lasts For Ever’ and even those at the back of the crowd run forward and push their way to the front to punch their hands in the air and scream down the microphone. Evidently, the crowd’s favourite was ‘Rest To Get Better’ in which there was not a single soul in the room not singing. ‘Skipping Stone’ was the song that closed the set for the band. Boynton ends the night on a high note launching himself into the crowd to crowd surf ending up in an almost headstand mid-surf whilst continuing to hit every note.
Overall, the crowd enjoyed both bands. Both performed incredibly, playing a good scope of their discographies. However, it was a bit odd to see that there was next to no one crowd surfing at the show. This was especially the case during Such Gold’s set which definitely had the atmosphere you would expect crowd surfers to be in.
