LIVE REVIEW: Stand Atlantic @ Stylus, Leeds
22/02/2022
Supported by The Dead Love & Lauran Hibberd
Approaching the venue is a little confusing, being hidden away within Leeds University Union. However, with some clear directions and neon signs you’d get there in one piece.
The Stylus is quite open, you can see all the behind the scenes intricacies and the technicians working their best to keep things running perfectly. The down side to this is that it takes away from the initial experience of anticipating the band from behind a curtain, although with four staircases you can navigate to the merch table and bar pretty easily.
Upon settling into the venue, pop-punk music played throughout intermissions dedicated fans felt at home singing along to every track.
First on stage:
All the way from Sydney Australia, The Dead Love, is a band that knows how to create the classic early-mid 2000’s pop-punk with modern vocals and gritty choruses and screeching bends that embellish in a bad-ass kind of way. They are not afraid to go hardcore, infused with a little romance, hope, nostalgia and battling with socio-issues of growing up and tackling the themes of domestic abuse
Their performance blew me away, they were quite heavy and hardcore right off the bat and it was disappointing that the audience was a little shy and hesitant, they had the potential to open a pit just through pure energetic performance.
A song that stuck with me was “If you say so”. Once the audience got used to The Dead Love it didn't take long for people to start singing along.
Next up was Lauran Hibberd - All the way from the Isle of Wight.
Lauran’s style is what I describe as bubblegum-playful springy pop-punk with a hint of cynicism and sarcasm. She has a quite eccentric view on life, however the themes are relatable. I would say that one of Laurens strengths is creating bittersweet lyrical dissonance.
Lauran was energetic and all over the place which was fun to watch. As a performer, her childlike personality shines through during each song but sweetly retreats when addressing the crowd.
The interaction between herself and her bandmates is like a playground and is very much inviting for the audience.
A notable track “Bleugh” combines swaggering riffs and hefty bass hits with cheeky vocal lines before shifting into a ballad bridge setting the narrative straight “…Were not getting married, we’re not having babies” and my absolute favourite and most comical part of the song as Lauran points over to large dachshund head backdrop “we’re not getting a dog”
Some critiques call Lauran the Melanie Martinez of Pop-punk, I disagree, being very different artists and idealisms, however I can draw some similarities from their girly Tutu aesthetics and child-like lyrics.
Finally, it was time!
Stand Atlantic like The Dead Love are also from Sydney, Australia. Somewhat resembling that of Tonight Alive & We are The In Crowd. Using chubby riffs and bouncing party synths to accompany the venting of personal and social issues through their lyrics and once again using cynicalism which creates relatable carefree but self righteous vibes.
Their introduction swept the entire audience away with intense strobe lighting that added heavily to atmosphere and everyone immediately lifted their arms up screaming and wooing.
There was not a single track Stand Atlantic played that anyone was not moving to, completely engaged with the band.
Throughout the entire set, there were multiple mosh-pits, walls of death and crowd surfing.
Molatov [OK] was one of the most volatile songs played with everyone jumping, singing and opening pits as well as a shocking amount of crowd surfers being pulled over the front barriers.
I was amazed at how safe it all was even during these wild times.
I was completely encompassed by the overall performance, watching in awe, as they were so very lively. The guitarist had mesmerising solos and the bass could be felt beneath your feet.
Vocalist Bonnie Frasers screams reached everyone, a particular attribute I admire as it is a very difficult, brilliant and rare skill for female vocalists.
Stand Atlantic took advantage of the venue space by utilising an Accessibility lift to rise over the audience during an acoustic song.
This allowed the audience to chill out for a little sing-along and form a “slow dance pit” opened at the request of Bonnie herself.
The album F.E.A.R is out May 6th via Hopeless Records and it was a nice addition to hear ‘Pity Party’ played from the upcoming album. Lauran Hibberd was invited back on stage as a guest vocalist and later Stevie Knight from The Dead Love joined to fulfil vocals and extra screams for “Death Wish”
Overall, of the shows I have attended so far this year this was the most visually and musically active and definitely had the most audience engagement. I encourage music lovers of all genres to attend a pop-punk gig at least once in their life as it truly is a party. This statement may sound a little biased but I did go to this gig almost blind not knowing the songs and still managed to find my place.
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