Live: We Were Promised Jetpacks @ The Garage

Following a pre-release tour of the UK and Ireland in late 2014 which teased tracks from their forthcoming third studio record Unravelling, Glasgow-based indie-rockers We Were Promised Jetpacks have hit the road once more in 2015 with a string UK and European dates supporting the new album with full steam.

 

Following a kick off show at the famous King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in their adopted home town, the Scottish rockers took their tour on the road around Europe before landing in England, with their second UK show on the tour at Islington’s Garage venue.

The original four-piece of frontman Adam Thompson, guitarist Michael Palmer, bass player Sean Smith and drummer Darren Lackie have now welcomed multi-instrumentalist Stuart McGachan into their fold, with his synths and guitars adding more depth to their make-up while retaining their signature sound.

Opening with Unravelling track Safety In Numbers, the Scotsmen launched into an epic, seemingly non-stop set which mesmerised the rather calm and dispersed crowd until around halfway through the set at which point the folks at the barrier in front of the stage were surprised by the sudden energy that overtook the crowd which resulted in a moshing frenzy.

Thompson and his motley crew interacted very little with the crowd, moving from one song to the next in rapid succession, the frontman briefly addressing the crowd towards the end of the main set as he introduced A Part Of It from their latest release. Although cast in shadows, it was drummer Darren Lackie who seemed to run the course of the set with boundless energy, thrashing out the stomping beats that march Jetpacks’ songs along while Sean Smith’s strummed bass parts added an extra dimension to tracks.

The main set closed with This Is My House, This Is My Home from second record These Four Walls before the band exited the stage for a brief hiatus, encouraging the enamoured crowd to shout for more. A rapturous closer in the form of It’s Thunder And It’s Lightning had Stuart McGachan turn his microphone to the crowd as they yelled along with every word.

While the night seemed to be over just as soon as it began and this was about a shared passion for music rather than putting on a fantastical stage. The Highbury crowd were left without wanting from this group of young Indie-rockers.

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Photographs & Review by Kalpesh Patel. 10th March 2015