By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Friday 31 May 2024

SETLIST: Today, Tomorrow, Sometime, Never; We Know Better; I Can’t Imagine The World Without Me; Iris Art; Father, Ruler, King, Computer; Fear Of Flying; Car Fiction; Worms And Angels; Insomniac; Natural Animal; On, Turn On; If The Dogs Don’t Get You, My Sisters Will; Scream; Great Things; King Of The Kerb; Dark Therapy

We 1st saw Echobelly on a balmy Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury playing 9th on the bill behind Oasis (8th), Chumbawamba (6th), Pulp (5th), Radiohead (3rd) and Blur (2nd).

• Read on for reasons including how we’d love to see them again soon with a new album of material

We’ve been to a lot of festivals and we’re struggling to think of a better day’s line-up than that although the Friday at Lovebox, Victoria Park, east London, in 2011 featuring Ed Sheeran, Example and Metronomy was special with Jack O’Connell in the moshpit.

We’re reminded of that O’Connell encounter as we spot actor Harry Lawtey, from TV’s Industry, in King’s Cross as we approach the venue although we didn’t see him inside.

We saw Sonya Madan and co a lot at festivals in the late 90s but can’t remember if we’ve seen them this century or ever as an evening’s headliners so tonight we decide to rectify the situation.

The set is mostly drawn from their 1st 2 LPs, 1994’s Everyone’s Got One and 1995’s On, and it’s pretty much everything that we would want to hear from them although we do hanker after the missing Give Her A Gun and wonder whether the lyric’s just a little too violent given the state of the world today (‘Blame the mother, sell the sister, oh, before I blow you away.’)

Tonight’s sound is exactly as we remember it from their 90s heyday and immediately transports us back to the indie Exeter nightclubs where we danced away our youth to the sound of Britpop.

We’re actually not too far geographically from the site of Echobelly’s 1st ever gig – the Powerhaus in Islington in October 1993 – and I Can’t Imagine The World Without Me draws on their signature sound which marries The Smiths and Blondie but adorns it with Beatles and Oasis flourishes.

An acoustic Insomniac provides a proper, grown up moment of reflection in a rush of nostalgia.

Perhaps it was just because the music was so potent then but we can’t disassociate the ‘Belly from other acts of the time that we loved.

The striking guitar riff of King Of The Kerb is so good that it reminds of the brilliant Suede at their best while Great Things is pure Sleeper and Elastica euphoria. But when they do go out on a limb with something as brooding and anthemic as Dark Therapy they prove they can plough their own furrow.

This gig then is the perfect reminder of the band’s best work and we’d love to see them again soon with a new album of material of a similar quality that they could pepper a greatest hits set with that could really energise them once more.

• Main picture by Alicia Woods via Facebook courtesy Echobelly Tickets
• Have you seen an Echobelly show before and what did you think of this 1? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
• Enjoyed this preview? Follow monstagigz on Twitter @NeilDurham, email neildurham3@gmail.com and check us out on Instagram and Facebook