Live Review: The Enemy + The Subways - O2 Brixton Academy, 09/11/2024
On the last night of the ‘Indie Til I Die’ tour at Brixton Academy, The Enemy and The Subways don’t do things by halves – except half-and-half scarves, of course.
The final two shows of the mid-00s love-in were delayed for three weeks due to illness in the Coventry band’s camp, but after Friday night’s return in Birmingham, Saturday night saw both bands hit London.
The rescheduled shows meant The Holloways could not attend as planned. However, Candid did a superb job stepping in as opener, kicking off with their latest single ‘Smalltalk’. The following 25 minutes were a ball of guitar-led noise from the five-piece, who hail from Coventry too. Hailing the “impactful” nature of The Enemy, frontman Rob Latimer told the crowd: “It’s a lovely experience to be touring with them.” While Brixton Academy is the largest room Candid have ever played – “the biggest venue we've ever even looked at, to be honest” – their academy-style indie sound, including ‘Wasted Time’, ‘Tonight’ and ‘Clarity’ EP closer ‘Future Fade’, mean it shouldn’t be their last outing in a similar space. They made a striking impression spread across the venue’s wide stage. The hundreds of punters who got down early were treated to a short burst of Tame Impala’s ‘Elephant’ – a rare nod to the 2010s amid the 00s icons coming up. Closing with ‘The Feeling’, another sharp blast of indie, the future is bright for Candid.
The Subways hit the stage to blasts of ‘Pure Imagination’ and ‘Chariots of Fire’ – maybe a fair, if bizarre, representation of the trio as a whole. That’s indie stalwarts Billy Lunn and Charlotte Cooper, alongside Camille Phillips, cursed to be the “new drummer” forever after joining in 2021.
Opening song ‘Oh Yeah’ set the scene for an hour of simple, manic, and ultimately effective rock. After 20 years as a going concern, there was a lot of nostalgia. Half the show consisted of songs from debut album ‘Young for Eternity’. There were also three songs from 2008’s follow-up ‘All or Nothing’, including Charlotte’s defiant bassline in ‘Kalifornia’, which Mr Lunn introduced as being written when they were “so high”, indicating with his hand a height shorter than his blue jeans. America has changed since The Subways first toured America as young upstarts, but they’re still racing through songs like nobody’s business. They’ve seen the US turn into a “fascist state” before their very eyes – but this isn’t time or place for political nuance.
They also delved into a newer world, like ‘Black Wax’, written during the pandemic and released on last year’s ‘Uncertain Joys’ album, which name-checks various artists, some of whom have been at Brixton Academy themselves. New song ‘I Need To Feel You Closer’, inspired by Billy’s experience being dumped by text whilst on tour a year-and-a-half ago, feels like classic The Subways on first listen, with raucous instrumentation and a catchy title line.
When not at their microphones, Billy and Charlotte ran themselves ragged, swapping sides of the stage, encouraging the growing crowd, who sang and screamed and clapped along during particular highlight ‘We Don’t Need Money To Have A Good Time’. On their two decades of doing this, Billy told the crowd: “I don’t take it for granted.” But it would be warranted – it felt like a homecoming, with the singer dedicating a song to his dad in the audience, and shouting out ‘With You’ as his new girlfriend’s favourite song.
‘Rock & Roll Queen’ is a big party anthem, covered by The Enemy to promote the tour, and it felt great in the moment, instigating moshing and loud voices, as everyone sang the trio home.
Towards the end of their sprawling set, The Subways hailed The Enemy as “the nicest bunch of people, the band and the crew”. Despite crossing paths repeatedly across Europe, they’d never toured together, and jumped at the opportunity to join forces, making a half-and-half scarf to mark the occasion. They get a bad rap from football fans, and deservedly so at times, but these serve a good purpose, raising money for Shelter and Mind.
Between acts, Radio X DJ Sunta Templeton kept the energy high with a string of classics, ranging from the Caesars to Jet and even ‘Sweet Caroline’. It helped to recall memories of music largely from the past two decades, as the room geared up for The Enemy, who used The Who’s ‘Baba O’Riley’ as their intro music before hitting the stage at 9.40pm.
Starting with ‘Aggro’, the opening track of their 2007 debut album ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’, they proceeded to race through most of the platinum-selling record in the main set. Still consisting of their original line-up, Tom Clarke took vocals on the left, Andy Hopkins was right on the bass, and Liam Watts on drums, with Gaz Openshaw backing up the trio as an added guitarist.
The energy is unparalleled, even as the references fade from view. (Richard and Judy’s chat show ended in 2009.) All songs get people at the top of their voices, bouncing around, a big festival feel, despite the winter drawing in. The fierceness is still there, as ‘Had Enough’ comes thundering in.
Not that the band can have it all their own way. It’s a Saturday night crowd and they will take their own course. The crowd start singing ‘This Song’ far before its appearance in the set, leading Tom to declare “London, you’re fucking beautiful, you know that”. He admitted he was “shitting” it after rescheduling – “because I know people have lives and it costs fucking money changing plans”. He shared the love with the fans for showing up before yelling “let’s fucking have it” as the band dove into ‘We Live And Die In These Towns.’
Festival anthem ‘You’re Not Alone’ was dedicated to Candid and The Subways, before Tom urged everyone, including the “posh ones” on the balcony to jump during ‘Technodanceaphobic’. They’re a band not afraid to respect their history, including a snippet of ‘Ghost Town’ by another Coventry band, The Specials, in ’40 Days & 40 Nights’.
When they eventually play ‘This Song’, the stage is bathed in yellow and red. It’s a highlight, before finishing off with album closer ‘Happy Birthday Jane’.
They quickly returned for an encore of tracks not from their debut album, beginning with ‘Be Somebody’. Maybe it’s the moment, but they are a band that feel right for a Saturday night, whether it’s citing “Saturday is your only highlight” in ‘Away from Here’ towards the start, or performing ‘Saturday’ from 2012’s ‘Streets in the Sky’ towards the end.
“We’ve done what we came here to do”, Tom teased. But the night – The Enemy’s last show of the tour and of 2024 - can only really end one way: a reprise of ‘This Song’. Not released as a single, it has built up a cult following, adored by all in the audience, and sung to the rafters. The singer said: “what happens next is entirely up to you”, before expressing a preference for “carnage. Absolute, unadulterated, untethered fucking chaos”. He asked: “Do you reckon you can help me out?” Of course, the crowd oblige. They throw everything into it.
Brixton Academy has had its well-documented issues, and it will never be perfect. But when the “carnage” kicks off, left and right, up and down the sloped floor, for a redux version of an album track The Enemy have already played less than half an hour ago, you appreciate why the room has its ardent supporters. The mix of chaos and gratitude carries out of the room, down the road, with fans still singing ‘This Song’ heading into Brixton tube station.
There’s nothing but nostalgia, with no nod to what’s lurking on the horizon for the band. That doesn’t really matter right now.
The Enemy plugged the half-and-half scarves too, and the last of them sold as the final fans left. It’s not a night for rivalry – it’s a score draw with The Subways, the kind of match-up where everyone feels content with a point. Indie rock has propelled us for 20 years, and can sometimes make things feel a little better. It’s proof the genre can make a difference, with a smile. And a scarf.
Words by Samuel Draper
Photo Credit: Emilie Cotterill
