NOTHING BUT THIEVES | LIVE REVIEW
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Mon 19 Nov
Alternative rock band Nothing But Thieves return to the UK after a string of dates across Europe, and Cardiff’s Motorpoint Arena is their first stop. Their fall tour comes after the success of their second studio album, 2017’s Broken Machine, and October’s four-song EP What Did You Think When You Made Me This Way.
Brighton-via-Newcastle trio Demob Happy’s opening set proves that quality overrides quantity. Be Your Man, from their second album Holy Doom, possesses hints of Royal Blood-like bass riffs; later, comparisons to Queens Of The Stone Age and Nirvana come through in Drunk DNA. Anglo-Australian indie trio Sunset Sons follow with their laidback, keyboard-centred sound; since forming in 2013, the band have released five EPs and debut album Very Rarely Say Die. However, their genre and style is an awkward fit for this bill, and seems to bring the crowd’s energy down before the headline act are due to take the stage.
Last time Nothing But Thieves were in the Welsh capital was May 2017, in the considerably more intimate Globe. They’ve proved they are worthy of their arena slot over the past year, though, and this set begins with mysterious, stage-obscuring smoke, clearing to reveal NBT in shadow behind the backdrop. From the opening I Was Just A Kid, the band provide a strong setlist mixing tracks from both studio albums; the crowd opens up for songs like I’m Not Made By Design, Live Like Animals and Itch after vocalist Conor Mason announces, “What I love about coming home is that you know what to do… mosh.”
Material from the recent EP also hits the mark, the Essex quintet playing the upbeat You Know Me Too Well and Forever And Ever More before slowing things down with Take This Lonely Heart. Nothing But Thieves prove that they can do it all as Mason showcases his vocal range for passionate ballads Particles and Afterlife; interrupting the moment during the latter to address a topless guy on someone’s shoulders. “I love you but can you please stop playing with your nipples?”
An encore soon turns into a rendition of Bruce Channel’s party classic Hey Baby before Nothing But Thieves prove their longevity with the closing Amsterdam. Cardiff is left buzzing after Mason announces that the night has been the best of the entire world tour.
words and photos AMY FARRER