The Hoosiers - Live Review
rating: 5
A once loved band but unfortunately forgotten about, The Hoosiers are back to show the world that they mean business. It's been a rough but prosperous few years for The Hoosiers. Concerning their departure from Sony Records in 2011 due to a dispute over the release of their second album 'The Illusion of Safety' in 2010 (re-released as 'Bumpy Ride' in 2011), caused the album to have a hit and miss reaction. Although the single 'Choices' reached #11 in the UK Singles chart in 2010, the rest of the album struggled to make sales. I'd personally like to think their albums success reflects on the answer to the question, 'name a Hoosier song', where still most responses would still be 'Goodbye Mr A' or 'Cops and Robbers', ultimately due to those songs being from their #1 album. From seeing them perform first hand earlier this week at Oxford Street's The 100 Club, I would definitely say this is about to change. Although slightly different from what we know as The Hoosiers, their latest album 'The News From Nowhere' is definitely a game changer for them. For those who have not experienced The 100 Club as a venue, it is definitely a recommended establishment for any band or viewer to come and check out when in London. Not thinking about the much larger arenas or festivals like Wembley or the recently iTunes festival, The 100 Club is exactly what you want from a night of music. Affordability, sound quality and intimacy. Although saying that, maybe it was just The Hoosiers putting on such a great show.
Creating an initial awe from the moment that they stepped on stage, I feel that I speak for everyone when I say they performed almost flawlessly. I should mention as well, I have never seen such a well dressed band. An odd comment? But illustrative to this article nonetheless. Playing everyones favourites, 'Worried about Ray', 'Cops and Robbers', 'Choices', and even new material, The Hoosiers seemed to make an easy (and sweaty) job of keeping the audience on their toes. As intimate as the gig went with possibly 100 people at most (whey!), they seemed to thrive off the fact they could engage more with a substantially smaller audience from what their probably used to. Debuting their new single, 'Somewhere in the Distance' gave serious insight into their new album to be released March 2014. Potentially one of my favourite songs so far and I guess theirs too as I think they played it twice? Good thing I enjoyed it. It may sound like a rather stereotypical 'gig-goer' thing to say, but it definitely sounded better live. This may be down to listening to a demo version of the track (which is linked below) or this may be the final product. Either way Irwin has such heart warming vocals, I just wish they were more powerful and evident in the studio version like they were the other night. That aside, it is still my favourite track of 2013 which says a lot. May be even 2014 too with the album release. http://youtu.be/l23S8WcCpHo All in all? I expect any future shows or the upcoming album to re-ignite everyones' love for The Hoosiers. They deserve recognition for where they have got to from such humble beginnings and while still keeping their seniority, I foresee big things. A very anticipated album release coming soon so keep an eye out for this band as you will soon hear even bigger things.