Stepping onto stage at Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach on a chilly Monday night a little late for the “last night of our Independent Venue Week tour” as frontman James Bagshaw reveals, psych-pop rockers Temples quickly launch into Certainty to remind the live crowd what they’ve come to see this evening. “Cardiff! Wow! We haven’t been here for what feels like 20 years but I think it’s been like 10 years? It’s wonderful to be back in this amazing country!” Bagshaw says between songs. “We’re gonna take you back to the first record now” – namely Sun Structures album track The Golden Throne.
Bassist Tom Walmsley lets the crowd know it’s keyboardist/guitarist Adam Smith’s birthday tonight, leading to cheers around the room before Holy Horses, a cut from 2019’s Hot Motion, precedes a great rendition of one of the band’s first singles, Colours To Life. It’s certainly a well-oiled performance, as you’d expect from a band now over a decade old and at the end of a UK tour (for which Bagshaw apologises if there are any hoarse voices).
Temples have a new record coming in April, titled Exotico and from which there are two songs aired. The first, Cicada, sounds oddly familiar for a reason that can’t quite be placed but leans into the slightly rockier side of Temples’ sound (and is “out next week” apparently according to Walmsley). The second, recent single Gamma Rays, comes after T-shirts are thrown into the crowd following rapturous applause (bigged up by Bagshaw himself) to mark Keep In The Dark.
Support act Zo Lief return to the stage to join the band for Shelter Song, Bagshaw admitting: “In London last night I forgot the words to our oldest song. So if I forget them tonight they’ll remind me.” He did, in fact, forget the words again. Finishing the gig with an extended version of Mesmerise, Temples have clearly had as much fun tonight as those in attendance. Hopefully, it won’t be another decade before they come back to Wales.
Temples + Zo Lief, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Mon 6 Feb
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS photos NADINE BALLANTYNE
