On this relatively warm Danish Saturday night, I’m getting ready to attend the gig of a young band who've risen to stardom relatively quickly.
You Me at Six are a Surrey-based quintet who mix poppy choruses, catchy tunes and pretty faces into a charming cocktail framed under the pop punk banner. The famous five have rapidly risen up the ranks to become one of the main acts on the British alternative scene, and tonight they are in Copenhagen again after a four-year absence.
Young Melodic hard-rockers Deaf Havana are the act destined for the warm-up duties this evening. Arriving 15 minutes early, I find myself in a pretty unexpected situation. The line looks endless in front of me and, on top of this, the band starts to play a full 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. I push on and manage to catch half of the warm-up act: a well-constructed performance characterised by a great display of energetic prowess along with a decent stage presence.
Admittedly they don’t seem to be on top form but Deaf Havana manage nonetheless to entertain a half-full Vega. The venue fills during the changeover as young teenage girls throng inside in the masses. And then You Me At Six launch a full-scale assault on our ears, igniting the show with tracks like ‘Too Young To Feel This Old’ – a song that weaves its way into our hearts. The quintet have announced their intentions and are here to stay, bonding well with a responsive crowd who jump and clap like there's no tomorrow.
One of the strong points of the evening is the showmanship of You Me at Six's frontman Josh Franceschi, who maintains a remarkable stage presence and whose intonation and musicianship are near-perfect. Carrying the show on his shoulders, he combines jumps, dance, idle banter and sing-along lead-ins fused with some occasional flirt factor that has surely left more than one high-schooler with YMAS poster in her bedroom sighing in despair.
The show goes on fairly smoothly, peaking with the performances of 'Underdog’ and ‘Fresh Start Fever’ – both of which bring the venue to a near collapse as the audience go berserk. Lamentably, It is all over too soon: a good 70 minutes plus encore later. You Me at Six have delivered the goods and we can only look forward to more of the same in the future.
You Me At Six
March 8
Lille Vega
4 out of 6 stars
