The Subways are a British rock band that have been lighting up the circuit and the festival scene for the past 10 years since their big break at Glastonbury in 2004, playing on the other stage after Michael Eavis picked them as a competition winner. The band who have graced the largest stages around the world found themselves performing at Guildford’s Boileroom on Saturday night to an eager and excited audience.
Billy Lunn greeted the crowd with a typically charismatic welcome once the trio had entered the stage and the band kicked off in style with their lively debut single, ‘Oh Yeah’ from their 2005 album, Young For Eternity. The crowd were quiet to begin with, but began waking up after a new track was followed by their classic sing-a-long ‘I Want To Hear What You Have To Say’. Lunn got the audience involved by making them clap along to the beat whilst a chorus of voices sang back the lyrics and from there on in the night was a melee of exhilaration.
Lunn then introduced the next track which he wrote about his mum entitled ‘Mary’, another classic punk-pop track that harks back to the youthful nature of the band that had an average age of 16 when they broke through. Next up was their 2014 release ‘My Heart Is Pumping to a Brand New Beat’, followed by everyone’s favourite and their most recognisable tune, ‘Rock & Roll Queen’. It was this track that the band were seen playing in the 2008 Guy Richie film RocknRolla that featured Gerard Butler, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba and Thandie Newton, to name but a few.
The crowd went absolutely berserk at this point, as was to be expected as heads banged, voices bellowed and pints flew. In a touching tribute, Lunn then dedicated the next song ‘With You’ to the crowd as it has now been an astonishing 10 years since the release of their first album in which the track features.
“Cos when I’m with you it seems so easy, seems so easy, my best days are with you, they are so easy, they are so easy.” – ‘With You’, The Subways.
There was still time for a couple more classics like ‘Boys & Girls’ from their 2008 album All or Nothing and ‘It’s A Party’ and ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ from their 2011 Money and Celebrity album. Needless to say, The Subways did a superb job in entertaining the Guildford crowd who were ecstatic to see such a successful band of the modern era grace the smaller stage.
It is also worth noting that this was the first performance at The Boileroom that we at This is Our Town Guildford had attended since the new licensing agreements had been put in place by Guildford Borough Council. We are pleased to report that they appeared to all implemented properly as there were marshals visibly patrolling the garden area, helping keep the noise levels down and the decibels were clearly reduced inside as the music could not be heard at all from the outer reaches of the venue.
James Martin
Image sourced from: http://tinyurl.com/n9kvafe