Live Review: Trash Boat - Heaven, London 09/05/2024
Trash Boat and Co shake HEAVEN’s mighty walls with relentless fervour and talent, and prove that they only need one night to make a lasting impact.
As the humid summer nights creep into London, it’s a relief to step into the cool arches of the city’s most renowned LGBTQ+ club, turned rock cave for an exclusive night with unpeople, Dream State, and Trash Boat as headliners. Stripping away the art pop and baby ravers reveals HEAVEN’s incredible venue space; the industrial brickwork makes for great sound design and a grungy vibe.
Heavy Music Awards nominees unpeople were the first to ravage HEAVEN with their harmonically heavy anthems. The band performed with intense enthusiasm and excitement, revelling in their dirty riffs, harsh breakdowns and catchy choruses. Summoning the first pits (of many) of the night, unpeople quickly made HEAVEN hot and steamy with energy and eagerness.
As soon as Dream State stepped foot on the stage, HEAVEN erupted into a frenzy of moshing and jumping. Entranced by front-woman Jessie Powell’s strong vocals and relentless energy, the crowd seemed to flow effortlessly to each new beat. Dream State’s presence was so utterly commanding as Jessie brought a fan onstage to sing with her word-for-word, arm in arm. Jessie would later enter the moshpit herself, parting the crowd simply with her presence, and giving us her best head banging. In one song, she showcased her incredible operatic range, stilling the crowd momentarily in awe, which I would love to see featured in more of the band’s tracks. Maintaining the classic heaviness and nostalgic feel that unpeople introduced, Dream State’s performance rocked HEAVEN’s walls, literally! Fans bustled amongst each other following their performance saying, “you could literally feel the walls shaking!”.
As the lights dimmed for our headline act, we heard the quiet singing of an old song, a very old song. The famous lyrics of a 1930s tune became audible…
“Heaven, I'm in heaven
And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak
And I seem to find the happiness I seek
When we're out together, dancing cheek to cheek.”
Then, transitioning seamlessly into the classic alt-rock staples of Trash Boat: a heavy drum beat, scorching riffs and Tobi Duncan’s commanding screaming. HEAVEN was immediately devoured by moshers, headbangers and crowd surfers. People seemed to be bouncing off the walls non-stop! It’s fair to say that Trash Boat were utterly gobsmacked by our enthusiasm and energy. As a treat, they performed an unreleased song entitled ‘Be Someone’ from their upcoming album that’s due sometime later this year. Instantly, it was clear that this is the heaviest song we’ve heard from the band, but a pleasant change at that. Shifting their pop-punk classic to something grittier highlights the extent of the band’s development from their beginnings in 2014, and a potential transition into a new era for them.
Tobi reflected on the night in thanking the “incredible bands and incredible venue. My heart is full of so many synonyms for love.”. He continued to champion freedom of expression and personal identity, as he introduced the final song for Trash Boat’s One Night in Heaven: ‘He’s So Good’. At this point, the crowd was conjoined into one singular being, moving as one to the song and screaming in one great booming voice. ‘He’s So Good’ acted as the anthem of the entire night, that being a night to party, to dance, and to celebrate people as a whole, their identity, quirks, sexuality, etc. Trash Boat utilises their platform as a band to preach freedom of expression and a society of complete acceptance and care. One Night in Heaven provided a vivid space to celebrate diversity and uniqueness through live rock synergy.
This exclusive event produced matching merchandise from Trash Boat, who came to interact with fans at the end of the show. Be sure to catch unpeople and Dream State live this summer at a number of music festivals across the UK.
Words by Erin Hill
Photography by Renée Bennett
