Swim Deep, NME Awards, Live at The Dome London
24 February 2016
Tonight Swim Deep play a set for one of the many shows set up by NME for in celebration of their annual NME awards. From the moment the band kick off their set, the band dive right to their roots playing songs such as ‘Francisco’ and ‘Honey’ off their debut album to warm up the crowd. Their new material was also well embraced by the crowd with notable tracks such as ‘Namaste’ and ‘One Great Song And I Could Change The World’ received well by the crowd. The band are an energetic bunch and frontman Austin Williams showcased his diverse talents of singing, playing the guitar and even dancing throughout the set. Even the crowd themselves too brought out an array of different dance moves. There were many attempts by members of the crowd to start a mosh pit. This would initially seem to be an odd sight as the band’s sound is quite the opposite of metal. Nevertheless, a huge chunk of the crowd invested time in getting involved in the mosh, shoving, heaving and creating pile ups of people. Each and every person involved was decent to help those who had fallen over in the process off their feet quickly and all remained safe and happy to dive right back into the mosh. The room does however calm down during their performance of ‘She Changes The Weather’ which is more laid back in comparison to the bands other tracks. This live rendition saw the audience all sing in angelic harmony to the chorus which permeates the entirety of the venue. After a good hour of stage time, it was incredible to see that the band still had the stamina to keep going. It had been the longest set that the band had ever played in their entire careers but the quality of their performance remained top notch throughout. To end, their 1.5 hours of stage time, the band play their most popular tracks ‘King City’ and ‘ Fueiho Boogie’ off their debut and sophomore album respectively. Although there was no dervish dancer that the band usually brought out at selected shows, Williams ends ‘Fueiho Boogie’ on a high by diving straight into the crowd who catch him and transport him throughout the audience. Overall, Swim Deep possibly played their most incredible set so far. They are definitely a band who are capable of recording fantastically sounding material, and replicating this authentically in a live setting. However, they don’t only jus replicate their sound live, they go miles and miles further by delivering a sonically magnificent performance that is unflawed and may even be better than the recorded material. They are truly a band who show that there is still originality and talent in not only in the UK indie scene but in the wider music scene in general.
