THE SUKIS ARE LIVE IN 25!
LIVE REVIEW | THE SUKIS | DISTRICT, LIVERPOOL by Rachel Puk
Setting off on their headline tour at the end of April, and I caught The Sukis on their final date in Liverpool – a hometown show. Putting on the tour entirely on their own, the band even made their own merch, promoting it in their own imaginative ways (have a read of the last slide of the insta post below). Following the release of their new single ‘To No One’ on 25th April, which oozes nostalgia with edge, I was really keen to hear their set live and catch this last show at District – based in the Baltic Triangle.
Being based in Liverpool, the band and everyone inside the venue was drenched in style. The crowd reflected the band’s aesthetic and stylish influence, and to me that seriously echoes the band’s ability to have their fans almost be an extension of them. It’s a testament to their music, but also their ability create their own bubble for fans to experience the music within. The dress code for this show was simply just ‘ties’, and pretty much everyone caught on.
The Sukis’ stage presence is massive. Opening with their track ‘Animo’, the whole crowd was moving in no time. Ed Haslam on drums got the room booming, and Freddie Warren on bass got the place grooving straight away. Second on the set-list was in fact ‘To No One’, and the place lit up. The whole room bounced to James Miller’s jangly guitar and Tige Burns on vocals wrapped the crowd around his finger. The high ceiling of the concrete, warehouse style venue made the sound bounce and reverb, pulling everyone in the crowd to dance and sing along. ‘To No One’, the first single the band has released in two years, evidently has a more concise and edgy note driving this band forward, and I look forward to hearing more like it released.
In their 70’s swagger, there’s a massive amount of chemistry between the band, which makes them so entertaining to watch. The crowd was cracking up at their synchronised jumps, and basically doing the splits mid-air. They’re totally polished as performers, but simultaneously playful in their craft, which makes them so fun to watch alongside hearing their tunes. Their musicality and technicality is on par with their act, the band can effortlessly tear-up their musical breakdowns and solos with complete ease.
Ending on their top tune ‘Becca’, with well over 17 million stream on Spotify, the band knew how to close their tour. Everyone indeed was “weak in the knees” from constant grooving to the 2000s-style indie tune. The tune is fast-paced and left everyone’s spirits on a high. The set totally wept nostalgia, and made the air buzz with a kind of cool that can sometimes seem so far from the current climate. But it’s still out there – everyone that night loved it, and held on to it. After the merch was sold, pictures were taken, set-lists were given out, I watched people mill around the grassroots venue practicing their mid-air splits with their air guitar in hand – sign of a great gig to me.
The Sukis are back and are only going up, I’d catch them when you can.
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