At 12:17pm on Wednesday 11th Feb 2015, SAINT RAYMOND tweeted “The day I’ve dreamed about since the age of 14,.. ROCK CITY – NOTTINGHAM, Let’s gooooo x”.
Come 20:49pm on Wednesday 11th Feb 2015, SAINT RAYMOND took to the stage. And go, he certainly did. In fact, if I’m gonna carry on this crappy line even more, he go’d so hard that I’m still aching, and reckon I will be until AMBER RUN’s Rescue Rooms Show in April.
Actually, let’s talk about AMBER RUN. Fuck, they’re bloody good aren’t they? It takes a lot for a support band to win over 2000 people, but they did just that. With their HUGE soaring choruses, ridiculously catchy melodies and of course top stage banter. Spark was a particular highlight, because there is nothing more epic than that hook “LET THE LIGHT IN, LET THE LIGHT IN DA DA, LET THE LIGHT IN, LET THE LIGHT IN DUN DUN DUN.” Yeah, they do it better than I do. And how nice is it of SR to bring fellow Notts lads with him to such a special moment?
Approximately 23.58 minutes later, a certain Callum Burrows and band took to the stage. And my God, they blew every single person in there… away. Firing through anthemic tune after anthemic tune, the crowd was going mental from the second they caught a glimpse of the main man. A few songs in they smashed into I Want You, and every single person in that room was shouting along at the top of their lungs. For a lad that hasn’t even got his debut album out yet, that’s pretty frickin epic!
SR played plenty of new music, and it all sounds just as catchy as the already released singles. A particular standout track, I didn’t catch the name of, only written last week (so maybe it didn’t even have a name), proved to be one of the standout moments of the set. Solo, Callum fired into this currently nameless track with lines “you’re the words on my tongue, to my favourite song”, and at that moment, you saw pretty much every guy in there thinking – “Bastard, why can’t I write songs like this?” Expect it to be the lead single to whatever the fuck Hugh Grant is doing in 2016.
Whilst on this ridiculous high, Callum was able to bring even more amazing news to the crowd – “I don’t know if I’m allowed to announce this yet, but I’m headlining Dot to Dot Festival this year.” YES, YOU HEARD RIGHT – SR, A NOTTINGHAM BORN ARTIST WILL BE HEADLINING ALL THREE DOT TO DOT EVENTS THIS YEAR! An amazing first, and we’re sure something that will make D2D even more memorable this year!
As they all ran off for the encore, during which the crowd basically did a three minute solo rendition of Ghosts, Callum ran back on stage to play a few songs on his own. As We Are Now really hit home, and despite the lyrics saying “we’ll never be as young as we are now” I think it’s pretty safe to say that Callum doesn’t need to worry, as he’s doing pretty well for himself right now.
The night ended with Bonfires and Fall At Your Feet, and by this point, everyone in the room was both buzzing like a bee on speed, and also feeling a tad sentimental, cos this was a bloody special gig – and I think every single person in the room knew, this was one that both us the crowd, and of course Callum, will never, ever forget.
“Thank you for the best night of my life” – That’s from the man who’s played approx 40 arena shows in the past six months.
And as I sit here in my pants, recovering from a late night at the afterparty, I can safely say, it was one of the best nights of my life too.
Yours in Love of New Music,
Sam Nahirny x
