
Liberty Lies + In Search Of Sun + Bad Flowers + Young Americans @ Slade Rooms, Wolverhampton, 3rd June 2016
Opening the show tonight were Young Americans, who not only opened with a performance from a geisha girl but came storming the stage full with face paint and charisma. For an opening band to have such drive and stage presence is quite surprising and a welcome one at that. Next up are Cannock’s Bad Flowers who are most certainly the strongest of tonight’s support acts and deliver a storming set that does more than enough to make you want to return and see them again. This line up was completed by London’s In Search Of Sun who will be playing Download Festival this weekend and finished off this wonderful trio of support acts.
Tonight at the Slade Rooms sees the return of local heroes Liberty Lies. In the past they have toured with Shinedown, Heavens Basement and Halestorm with their latest output being a four track EP entitled ‘Fracture’ produced by Romesh Dodangoda at Longwave Studios in Cardiff.
This rare headline show offered a unique opportunity to see band perform both old songs as well as previewing brand new single ‘Are You Listening’. Its lead vocalist Shaun Richards that truly leads the evening tonight, both with his engaging onstage persona and friendliness towards the crowd but also his stunning vocals on tracks such as ‘Circles and ‘Undivided’.
It’s clear that everyone in the audience both knew and wanted to support the band greatly, with a great warmth being shown towards the band that is often absent within larger venues. And it’s with this you can only hope that Liberty Lies grow and grow but take this sense of familiarity and pride with them wherever they roam.
The band’s latest output is a four track EP entitled ‘Fracture’ which they recorded with Romesh Dodangoda at longwave studios in Cardiff. The EP ‘demonstrates the band as both superb song-smiths and adroit musicians’, check it out now on Spotify and iTunes!
Festival appearances this year for Liberty Lies include:
Fri 02 Sep Fort Fest, Bedfordshire
Sat 03 Sep Macmillan Fest, Nottingham
Words: Dan Earl
Photographs: Chris Bowley