Live Review: Ten Tonnes - Scala, London 05/02/19

Swarmed with catchy guitar hooks and infectious choruses, Ten Tonnes proves that it’s only up and out for the Hertford songwriter. 

It’s a relatively quiet Tuesday night in the heart of London. However, going inside Scala turns out to be a very different story. Starting with his traditional walk-in song, Sweet Caroline, sets the scene perfectly; a night of chanting and heart filled singing. Ten Tonnes, or Ethan Barnett, is joined with his band of 3 and gets right into the crack of it with ‘Born To Lose’; a firm fan favourite off his sophomore EP, ‘Born To Lose’. 

Considering he only has a handful of singles and EP’s under his belt, it’s no surprise that Ten Tonnes finds some time to play us some new material, notably ‘Too Late’ and ‘Counting Down’.  Even his new stuff had the crowd singing along within a matter of minutes!

Taking a bit of a breather from the relentless moshing and chanting, Ethan picks up the acoustic guitar and gives us a rendition of ‘Love Me To Death’; who Ethan describes as a “bittersweet ode to relationships plagued with love and hate.” Bit like that iconic Christmas song by The Pogues then? In true 21st century fashion, Scala lights up the room with their phone flashlights to escape away from the world for a short few minutes in this stunning romantic ballad. 

Back into the irresistible indie hits now, such as the happy-go-lucky ‘G.I.V.E’ and guitar driven ‘Lay It On Me’, which had the entirety of Scala chanting back to during the chorus. Despite the venue not being fully sold out, these contagious tunes still had everyone dancing and pits being opened for those snappy choruses and potent buildups; which is fitting to his superb songwriting skills and banger-making capability. 

He’s still got a long way to go and developing to do, such as his stage presence and frontman performance skills, but he’s still early in his musical career. His debut album will be sure to give him the confidence he needs when he’s assuredly selling out those arena sized venues in the future, and don’t be mistaken that he definitely possesses that potential to be an anthem making machine.

Ending with Lucy, his iconic first release, is a fitting end to where it all began for this talented, and bursting with rock solid potential, songwriter. 

Words and photos by Jordan Logan