Review: Sea Girls at The Loft, Southampton

As I had never attended a gig at The Loft before, I was excited about the prospect of seeing a band here since the venue regularly hosts great up-and-coming artists. However, this excitement quickly dissolved into anxiety when I first arrived, as the already over-crowded audience were packed into such a small vicinity. To obtain a drink seemed a chore having to shove through the crowds of people who were being pushed up against the bar, and I was hyper-aware of the exit being quite difficult to access because of the over-crowded nature of this event. As someone who experiences anxiety in packed places, this venue was definitely not the place for me.

Despite the somewhat disappointing aspects of this venue (and after having to endure some less than enjoyable DJ songs), when Sea Girls arrived on stage I was instantly pleased to hear their talented musicianship as a band. Opening with ‘Violet’ truly rallied up the crowd, and I knew I was in for a night filled with good music and a brilliant atmosphere amongst the (very lively and very packed) crowd.

It was difficult to identify a particular favourite amongst the crowd, as it seemed the energy levels maintained at an extreme high for the audience throughout the entire night. I noticed that one of their most recent singles ‘Closer’, released earlier this year, garnered lots of attention from fans in the crowd as it had everyone clapping along.

Unfortunately, their setlist lacked a little variety for me, as I found it particularly difficult to distinguish between many of their songs. However, this may not be due to their music, and may simply be the fact that I lack knowledge on much of their material. Despite this, I enjoyed the fact that they played some new, unheard songs, called ‘Shake The Feeling’ and ‘Ready For More’, and it was clear the rest of the audience enjoyed these also, as the dancing never stopped. Alongside their new songs, a memorable moment for me was their performance of ‘Damage Done’, as it’s one of my favourites of theirs on record and sounded much better live due to the energy they exhibited from the stage.

As a band, I was astonished at how they managed to maintain such energy throughout their hour-long set, and their humble natures made them really likeable characters; they seemed overjoyed at the excitable crowd, and even said it was one of the best gigs they have ever played. This gratitude was shown even more as the lead singer jumped into the crowd to sing along with fans; this was a truly amazing thing to witness, and the respect I have for bands like this is immense. Making his way around the crowd and eventually to the bar, he continued his performance throughout, which I think is certainly applaudable.

Overall, a night with Sea Girls at The Loft had its good and bad aspects, however the talented musicianship of the band definitely out-weighed the disappointing experience I had with this venue.

Sea Girls are certainly not going to stay playing local venues like this for long, so be sure to keep an eye on where they head to next here.