What to say about Amber Run? They're outright incredible.
My first ever gig out of Cambridge was to see these at the o2 Kentish Town Forum in 2017 and at the time I and mates didn’t know them at all. It was a way in which we could all go out in London and get trollied. They were supported by a band called Island who are very good as well but came nowhere near Amber Run. After the gig, we all left big fans of the 5 piece group and got listening properly. At the time they had released an album titled “5 am” which is a truly outstanding album from start to finish. Towards the end of the year, they played a gig at the Cambridge Junction the closest music venue to where I live and again we all went but this time we knew what we were in for. Having just released their second album “For a moment, I was lost” they were truly exceptional, their frontman being one of my favourites due to his sheer passion and fluidity on the stage. That gig was amazing and went down as one of my favourite gigs of all time but it was nothing compared to their gig at the Junction again on the 14th October 2019.
I usually go to gigs with my dad as we share a very similar love for music but as he was away on holiday I went with one of my best mates Matt who my dad has been mates with before I was born, but a very passionate music lover as well. After a cheeky Five Guys and a pint of Camden Pale Ale, it was about time for Amber Run to step out on stage. I was extremely excited for this one as Amber Run was in the middle of a UK tour of their newest album “Philophobia” which I had listened to religiously before the gig. I love Amber Run because they’re very unique to me, they’re very very mellow and depressing at times but can also be very uplifting too, which shows off the diverse range that these guys have. They played a 17 song set with an additional encore of 3 songs, and it did not disappoint, with a mixture of old and new it was extremely intimate.
They started with my favourite song from their new album ‘Neon Circus’ which is a very heavy song at first and is a great song to start with as it got the audience moving from the start. It wouldn’t be as effective to start with a mellow song first because you want people to be cheering and moving straight away and then ease them into the more emotional songs. ‘Neon Circus’ is a sick tune and sung well by the frontman Joshua Keogh who is a very talented musician along with the rest of the band. ‘Neon Circus’ is mental for most of the song however it drifts towards the end into the more stylish mellow sound which is a nice way to fade the song out. Along with ‘Neon Circus’ they played ‘Carousel’ and ‘What Could be as lonely as love’ later on which are both from their newest album and again both absolute bangers. “Carousel” is a very good song again like “Neon Circus” very rock orientated which is a nice change from the normal mellow genre that Amber Run has taken on. Overall the new album is superb just like the previous 2 and it’s even better live; honestly, this band is a band worth seeing where ever they may be.
As well as the new stuff they did play their oldies from the “5 am” and “For a moment, I was lost” albums, both a lot more mellow than their newest. “5 am” with songs such as ‘Just My Soul Responding’, ‘Pilot’, ‘I Found’, ‘Heaven’, ‘Spark’ and so on is in my top 5 favourite albums of all time because I feel it’s very hard to make an album where every song is at least a 7 out of 10 but this album is. “For a moment I was lost” with songs such as ‘No Answers’, ‘Haze’, ‘Stranger’, ‘Dark Bloom’, and my favourite song of all time ‘Fickle Game’. So many emotional songs that grip you when you listen and make you appreciate so much that goes on in the world, there a truly heart wrenching and an inspiring couple of albums. Amber Run played all of the songs I mentioned and they were all as good as each other, I certainly never get bored of listening to them both, however, if you do listen I would suggest some issues…
The gig was overall one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to and certainly the best gig I’ve seen of them, I would highly recommend listening to them and if you can go to see them too. I don’t like to write a blog and it is full of positives I do like to be critical when I can, but with Amber Run, there is simply no room for criticism. I could carry on another 8 pages talking about them but I try and keep these posts brief. I hope you guys enjoyed this blog, sorry it’s been a while since my last one but I promise I’ll be back with a new one soon. Like, Comment and Subscribe. Cheers.