With their new album Hold Onto Your Heart announced for release early next year, The Xcerts kicked off the album campaign with a UK headline tour. We caught them as they closed out the tour with a packed out show at the Scala in London.
Big Spring (7) start off the evening serving up some huge riffs. Their fuzzed up garage rock hits hard and provides a very enjoyable start to the gig. Despite still being a relatively new band the members carry over elements from their older bands so Big Spring already feel like a relatively complete package. Ollie Loring has enough personality to his vocals and the previously mentioned big riffs really do grab attention. Big Spring are definitely ones to watch.
Still, this was always going to be The Xcerts (9) night. Opening with the simply joyous Daydream gets their set off to a great start and it just gets better from there. The band genuinely seem blown away by the reception from the crowd tonight but they never take it for granted. They feed off the enthusiasm and it just makes the emotion they put into their set feel all the more real. With the new album out early next year they play two unreleased tracks both of which suggest that album is definitely something to be excited about.
However the real highlights all come from There Is Only You, with a solo version of Pop Song proving to be an especially powerful moment. The older cuts like Slackerpop definitely provide some of the biggest sing alongs but when they close with the title track off of There Is Only You it shows how they’ve grown as song writers. When Murray Macleod returns to perform Aberdeen 1987 and seems to be fighting back tears, it just confirms how special this show is for the band. Feels Like Falling In Loves ends the whole evening in spectacular fashion and suggests that The Xcerts could really be on their way to bigger venues in the near future.
It feels like The Xcerts have spent years being one of the most underrated bands in the UK but tonight felt like things might be turning around for them. Based on performances like this as well as all their recorded output, this is a band that really deserves your attention,
