Grayscale returned to Southampton in style, bringing along an abundance of new tracks from new album Nella Vita. Sounding better than ever before, the band tore the roof off of The Loft. Unfortunately, the venue itself prevented the night from being perfect.
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Grayscale are currently on tour with pop-punk heavyweights Real Friends this autumn and the U.K leg of the tour saw the band return to Southampton where they played in the city’s relatively new venue, The Loft.
With a great new record just out and a long-awaited return from absence from touring the U.K, I was initially very excited to see Grayscale again. However, despite arriving just 30 minutes after doors, the venue was already beyond claustrophobic. Men were standing in the women’s toilets, women were standing in the men’s, not out of choice but simply because there just was no space to even breathe. The bar was lined with punters watching the opening act whilst bar staff stood checking out their nails since no fans could actually reach the bar to order any drinks. It is a compliment to the bands to see such an impressive turnout yet with an abundance of fitting venues in Southampton, it is a shame that a show of such size was shoehorned into a venue with such gross miscalculations of capacity.
Despite being bundled together like a bunch of spring onions, the fans let off a very warm welcome for the Philadelphia-based pop-punkers. Kicking off in style, Grayscale burst straight into ‘In Violet’ from their newly released album Nella Vita. I had only managed to have a couple of listens through the album but it was impressive how similar the band sound compared to the record. Following a brief chat from frontman Collin Walsh about the rain in the U.K, the band jumped straight into another new track in the shape of ‘Baby Blue’. This was a presumably lesser known track amongst fans, since it fell a bit flat with most in the audience. Despite this, the band relinquished their mojo with older hit ‘Palette’ and followed this up with the anthem in ‘Mum’.
The venue was good for one thing – surfing. The body-surfer massive were out in force in The Loft throughout the entirety of Grayscale’s set. It was pleasant to see those at the front of the no-barrier gig not putting up any fuss with the abundance of Vans Old-skools and Dr Martens smacking into their skulls every 14 seconds. The band managed to restore some order with slower and more angelic tracks like ‘Painkiller Weather’ and ‘Old Friends’ both off of their latest LP Nella Vita. Despite the hyperactive nature of most fans in attendance, I think even they were thankful for the decrease in pandemonium to allow themselves a deserved break from crowd-surfing and moshing. Finishing off their set with the huge track in ‘Atlantic’, Grayscale saw off the remainder of their set in style and finished on a huge high for the band. Even in spite of the cramped conditions in the venue, I didn’t want their set to end.
Be sure to stay in the loop with Grayscale’s upcoming shows/tours here.
