STONE live in Newcastle: happily raucous to the point of chaos
“Put me in a room with anyone and I will convert them all [to our music],” STONE frontman Finlay Power once told NME. Previously, he was tasked with winning over audiences yet to know their name — the Liverpool rock band have already supported the likes of Sam Fender and Yungblud, titans who recognised the four-piece’s energy while they were still unsigned.
Tonight, Power doesn’t need to convert anyone. This sold-out gig at Newcastle’s Cluny venue is part of STONE’s first headline tour, and the opening battle cry of ‘I Let Go’ proves every thrashing head in the audience came fully devoted to the band’s breakneck sound. High-tempo bangers ‘Keep Running’ and ‘Fuse’ rally the crowd to a frenzied state, while new single ‘Left Right Forward’ – which only released last week – already proves to be a winner.
Excitement ripples through the crowd as STONE wheel out three unreleased tracks. ‘If You Wanna’ and ‘I Got A Feeling’ offer more of the hook-heavy rock we’ve previously seen from the band, and in addition to ‘Save Yourself’’s stripped-back vulnerability, it all suggests last year’s ‘Punkadonk’ EP was an exciting warm-up for what’s to come.
When fan favourite ‘Let’s Dance To The Real Thing’ brings everything back to familiar territory, Power dares the audience to “kick off” – and he can barely be heard over the crowd as they roar back every lyric. ‘Money (Hope Ain’t Gone)’ gets similar treatment, while the searing guitar solo in ‘Stupid’ sends mosh pits whirling through The Cluny. Yet it’s the blistering salvo of ‘Waste’ that gets the wildest response, which culminates in a snarling Power leaping into the crowd before him.
The energy carries through to a bouncy ‘Moto’, and by the time the track wraps up, Power is visibly emotional — he admits this is the first gig he’s been able to see fans singing his own lyrics back to him. “This is beautiful, I fucking love your city,” he says, beaming.
Before STONE close out the night with ‘Leave It Out’, Power says the band have waited “their whole fucking life for this”. Perhaps Power is talking about the bigger picture – the momentum that has swiftly carried STONE from massive support slots to headlining their own shows – but you could easily believe he’s waited his whole life for this night in The Cluny.
STONE played:
‘I Let Go’
‘Keep Running’
‘Left Right Forward’
‘Fuse’
‘I Got A Feeling’
‘If You Wanna’
‘Let’s Dance To The Real Thing’
‘Money (Hope Ain’t Gone)’
‘Stupid’
‘Save Yourself’
‘Waste’
‘Moto’
‘Leave It Out’
The post STONE live in Newcastle: happily raucous to the point of chaos appeared first on NME.
Andy Brown
NME
