Written by Kaya Bianculli
Photo by Sam Crowston
The Royston Club returned to Cardiff for a sold-out show at The Great Hall for their Songs For The Spine tour. As always, they absolutely smashed it.
The Wrexham four-piece delivered an unforgettable performance in the Welsh capital, starting the show with ‘The Patch Where Nothing Grows’, their first single for the new album ‘Songs For The Spine’, and a fantastic way to get the crowd excited for the night ahead.
‘Glued to The Bed’ was next, another single from the new album. Following was ‘Blisters’ from their debut album ‘Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars’. The band continued to alternate between songs from both albums, catering to both old and new fans. One stand out was ‘Mrs Narcissistic’, which they started slow and mellow and then picked up, as did the crowd. Cardiff was also lucky to have the band’s cover of ‘Wichita Lineman’ added to the set list for the show.
The show had a great mix of fun, jump up and down classic indie tunes, as well as slower ballads the crowd can connect with. Older songs such as ‘Tender Curiosity’ and ‘52’ are always crowd favourite performances for the group. Going forward, newer songs, such as ‘Spinning’ and ‘Crowbar’, could also be stand out performances for the band.
As they made their way through their set, the crowd did not die down. Despite the band hardly speaking to the audience, the crowd interacted with each other more than at your average concert. However, the way everyone sang the words back and filled in the gaps lead singer Tom Faithfull left for them was like a conversation in itself. Beyond just singing along, in between nearly every song were chants, often just repeating “Royston”, but also chants that specifically pertained to Wales and Welshness.
What I love about seeing a Welsh band like The Royston Club perform is the crowd’s pride in watching a Welsh band on stage. It is typical when bands play outside their home country to hear parts of the crowd celebrate being from the same place as the performers, but not so much when you’re in the capital city of that country. No matter where they are, a Welsh crowd always celebrates one of their own on stage. Between the chants, Welsh rugby tops, and flags, seeing The Royston Club perform is not only being part of an appreciation for their music, but a celebration of a culture.
The group closed the show with ‘Cariad’ meaning ‘Love’ in Welsh. Although typically a perfectly performed ballad, it was brought to the next level when the band walked off at the end of the song, besides Faithfull, who repeated the chorus acoustically, and then with no instruments at all. This was an unbelievable way to close an already outstanding performance.
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