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WARCHILD BRITS WEEK WITH O2 PRESENTS:THE AMAZONS

WARCHILD BRITS WEEK WITH O2 PRESENTS:THE AMAZONS

O2 helped to bring to the public a week long series of gigs from various artists for Warchild Britsweek.

Warchild are a charity that aim to reach children as early as possible when conflict breaks out, and stay on to support them – long after the TV cameras have gone home.

They help keep them safe, give them an education, and equip them with skills for the future.

Warchild also work with children and young people to change systems and practices that affect them. We campaign on the root causes of conflict, and we demand that children are at the centre of all humanitarian responses. Other acts to perform during this week were The Vamps, Ed Shereen, Jessie Ware, Alt-J and Rag ‘N ‘ Bone Man

We went to see The Amazons courtesy of THE FAMOUS COMPANY – at Omeara situated minutes away from London Bridge. Tucked under an archway the 320 capacity live space bucks the trend of recent venue closures, welcoming record label showcases, special underplays from world-class acts and headline shows from the finest rising artists.  On top of live music, Omeara London also plays host to a series of regular and one-off club nights till the early hours, from house and techno through to hip-hop and soul.

Tonight it was the Amazons playing host. Arriving at the entrance we see a batlight style projection of Brits week and the acts playing up against its side wall, a red rope guiding us into the venue. Crowds hustling and bustling at 7.30pm in the evening in anticipation.

Finding my way in and taking my place at the bar and gaining my free lager courtesy of my O2 Priority App i cement my viewpoint. Watching on observing the incomers our barman keen to see why everyone is attending..Asking the audience if they have seen the Amazons before, what they think of them and feeding back his own love – clearly we have a genuine fan here – proven when the and themselves come on and we see him stood up on the bar taking photos!

Eight o’clock comes and our support for the night come on to a near full house in the band that are STEREO HONEY.

Only a couple of years old they are starting to make a name for themselves in the music world. The four piece are bringing their style of indie guitar rock to the masses. They appeared to be comfortable and confident in playing to the crowd. Well received they were and definitely worth keeping an eye out in 2018 for more.

Lights up again and it was a short break in proceedings, toilet stops and a new beer in hand. Shortly after lights dimmed and on came The Headline Act, THE AMAZONS.

This four piece band from Reading formed in 2014 have been around for a few years now and were included in BBC’s Sound of 2017, MTV’s Brand New 2017’s lists and NME,  BBC Radio 1 & The Independent listing them as a band to watch in 2017 – they are getting the recognition they deserve.

The awaiting crowd were already clearly fans of this band, the venue packed to the back of the small arena, the band came on and delivered with their opening song and anthem Stay With Me, they whipped the crowd into a frenzy, spotting one up on the shoulders of another this early on the excitement had already built.

Serving us a 10 song set that lasted just over an hour, we were in the presence of a band that is here for the long run. Crowd members rocking their heads, tapping their hands on their legs, some dancing, they were in the mood.

Highlights were the opening Stay With me, Ultraviolet, Nightdriving, Holy Roller and Little Something (20th Century Boy).. Yes we have named half the set but this band already have a repertoire of songs that fans will sing along to at future festival performances and gigs. By the end of the set they thanked us all for coming, wished us well and hoped to see us soon.

Conversations overheard  – ‘Fantastic Gig’, ‘Amazing’ and ‘Legends’ were some of the terms used to describe what we had witnessed and who are we to disagree? We too believe!