Sonic Boom Six Newcastle o2 Academy 23/11/12
Sonic Boom Six: new label, new album, new single, new tour, new fans and a new energy.
Seems like the band have been around forever, the perennial nearly-achievers, perhaps just a little too original for the masses who like their music to be genre-specific and easy to pigeon-hole.
Described as a Punk-Rock, Hip-Hop, Jump-Up Ska Soundclash from Manchester, their latest self-titled fourth album, sees the ska and slower beats dropped for a rockier sound and it’s around this new album that most of tonight’s set is based, which judging by the swathes of new fans seems hardly surprising.
Opening with the first single from the new album ‘For The Kids of the Multiculture’ a song celebrating the benefits of our multicultural society, it’s the second song crowd favourite ‘Sound of a Revolution’ that gets both the old school boomers and the new fans jumping as does the second single from the album ‘Virus’ which everyone seems to know, courtesy of the superb video.
During a break in proceedings Barney Boom explains that a year earlier the band were disillusioned and thought about splitting, but the enjoyment that they got from playing to the fans was such for the nine years they’d been together that they’d realised they had to continue and that’s what the next song ‘Keep on Believing’ was about.
We then get an old one ‘People Acklike They Don’t Know’ for the old school fans and a Streets cover ‘Let’s Push Things Forward’, who were a major influence on the formation of Sonic Boom Six, followed by ‘The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Inventions’ then the more downbeat ‘Karma is a Lady’, a strange way to finish the set. And then we’re back with a rousing encore of ‘Meanwhile Back In The Real World’ that send everyone home happy. A faultless live performance.
The music industry can be a cruel game, but if there’s any justice Sonic Boom Six will be around for another nine years, but huge. If any band deserves it they do. 8.7
Nov 28 2012 – Stuttgart, Germany @ Goldmarks – Europe 2012
Nov 29 2012 – Zug, Switzerland @ Salvanik – Europe 2012
Nov 30, 2012 – Bulle, Switzerland @ Ebullition – Europe 2012
Dec 1, 2012 – Sursee, Switzerland @ Kulturwerk – Europe 2012
Dec 2, 2012 – Munich, Germany @ Kranhalle – Europe 2012
Dec 4, 2012 – Vienna, Austria @ The Arena – Europe 2012
Dec 5, 2012 – Berlin, Germany @ Comet – Europe 2012
Dec 6, 2012 – Hamburg, Germany @ Headcrash – Europe 2012
Dec 7, 2012 – Cologne, Germany @ MTC – Europe 2012
Dec 8, 2012 – Utrecht, Netherlands @ dBs – Europe 2012
Dec 9, 2012 – Haarlem, Netherlands @ Patronaat – Europe 2012