Live Review: The Rubens, Oh Mercy, Foam

Doors open 8pm. Arriving a few songs deep into FOAM's set, and having never seen, nor heard of them before, I had one of those 'wow, these guys are sweet' moments. I think there's just something unusually wonderful about being in a club, undistracted, and being knocked off-centre by some proper home-town talent. Wandering to the bar between songs, I grabbed myself a big refreshing pint of water (hydration is important...), and pooling my attention towards the three long-haired youthful grunge-punk guys rocking out the stage for the remainder of their set.

As the venue began to fill it was evident that there was a broad range of fans that had gathered, from the weather-appropriately dressed reserved-looking types, to the scantily-clad party-goers who looked as though they'd be sticking around for some fist-pumping tunes afterwards. The bar line was forever long as per usual at Capitol, but some chose to bypass that by swigging from their groups communal flask by the stage, come on guys, a little discretion.

Oh Mercy made their way to the stage, suited up, I've got time for that. I was pretty hyped to see them, as it was the second time for me to attend one of their shows, but the first time to be able to remember it, you all know what Southbound can be like..They channeled the coolest of vibes, with a setlist based predominantly on their latest album Deep Heat, but with a few older tracks thrown between. From song-to-song, the applause grew louder as the last of the attendees made their way into the club for this sold out show. I think it may have been cool to hear a few older up-beat tunes, because after-all it was a Friday night, and people were out to party, but it was an enjoyable set none the less. It was a real shame when the last song went out to a rude human who screamed out “Who the fuck are you? I'm here to see The Rubens!”. Good one mate.

Girls began to push themselves as close to the stage at possible, a condensed female-dominated fort began to form near every edge of the stage, there could only be one explanation for this phenomenon, The Rubens had to be babes. My suspicions were confirmed when they began to play and the squeals from the crowd grew higher, those three Margin brothers have a pretty good gene pool going on. They had huge energy up on stage which can only be expected with the success they've had in the last 12 months, teamed with the reaction they were getting from the sea of humans packed in to Capitol. They had everyone singing along with them to My Gun and Lay It Down, along with  positive feedback to a new single Cut Me Loose. Overall a decent set, certainly a band to watch, if this is the response from their first album, there can only be better things to come.