INDIE SENSATION THE ROYSTON CLUB PLAY SOLD OUT ST LUKES

By Amy Smith

On 17th October, Welsh indie sensations The Royston Club took the stage to play the Glasgow date of their Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars tour. Sold out on all UK dates, the tour will also see them travel to Europe for the first time at the end of what has been a milestone year for the up and coming musicians. 2023 has seen them release their debut album Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars – something fans have been waiting eagerly for since 2019 – which charted an impressive 16th in the official UK chart.

OVERPASS

Before The Royston Club took the stage, we were treated to a superb support set from Birmingham’s Overpass. While I was unfamiliar with them before this night, they definitely won a place on my playlist with their energetic performance and amazing stage presence. I was particularly impressed by their bassist and drummer’s parts of songs, but the whole band put on a really tight and professional show. A notable highlight was hearing their latest single Alright, which has been received well by radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, and seen Spotify add them to some of their official and biggest playlists.

THE ROYSTON CLUB

As soon as The Royston Club appeared onstage, blowing kisses to the crowd, things just got even better. Their setlist was perfectly balanced between nods to longtime fans with oldies like Shawshank and Tangled Up whilst treating us to every album track except one. The order of the songs was also incredibly impressive- they came on with a bang with first album single Blisters then alternated between old and new and uptempo and slower tracks throughout the set. They then finished off with the holy trinity of Mrs Narcissistic, I’m a Liar and Marina. I don`t think there was a single person in that crowd who wasn’t screaming the words along with charismatic frontman Tom Faithfull. It’s a testament to the band’s catchy hooks that people were also vocalizing versions of those.

Some of my personal favourite moments came when lead guitarist Ben Matthias joined Tom at the mic for the bridge of Shallow Tragedy, and their beautiful acoustic opening to The Deep End which saw them showcase their beautiful harmonies. The end of the show was the strangest feeling between utter euphoria and devastation that it was over.

Seeing a favourite band in the best venue I’ve ever been to – both in terms of acoustics and accessibility – is an experience I will never forget and it only made my love and admiration for the band grow even further. Album 2 and its subsequent tour can’t come soon enough.

Words by Amy Smith