Hair, charisma, sweat and talent. To sum up Peace’s performance at Rock City so simplistically is crude yet surprisingly effective. To overstate this indie-rock band’s talent is hardly conceivable. Quite clearly the fans at lively Rock City agreed. Energetic responses continually emerged from the crowd. Signs of adoration took the form of screams until one felt their voice box would pop, jumping as if possessed by demonic bunnies. One loose hair extension flying high above the crowd was a fine representation of one fan’s uncontainable excitement at witnessing the talent which front man Harry Koisser exuded through his pretty facade and effortless vocals. Perhaps an adage to the days of throwing ones bra on stage for the rock legends of past.
Peace drew such a diverse crowd, ranging from the middle-age couples up on the indie-rock scene (not middle aged enough to consign themselves to Elbow concerts), students keen to revel in indie vibes whilst clad in their waviest garms and lads who’ve still got soul.
This is far from the band’s first visit to Nottingham; following two sold-out gigs in smaller venues at Bodega to launch their sophomore album earlier this year, they still easily filled out Rock City’s huge capacity. The electric crowd loved the set Peace played – which included the best hits from both their albums Happy People and In Love.
“Peace drew such a diverse crowd, ranging from the middle-age couples up on the indie-rock scene to lads who’ve still got soul”
The opening tracks ‘O You’ and fan-favourite ‘Wraith’ set the tone for the rest of the gig, with the crowd dancing and jumping, there was barely a soul standing still. The indie-rock band have clearly struck a chord with the youth of Britain today, their lyrics illustrating the struggles of growing up in society today. “I wish I had perfect skin”, the crowd chants alongside Harry later on in the gig.
Peace have come a long way since their first EP Delicious, they exude confidence and energy – typical of a band aware of their talent and newly extensive fan-base. However for older fans this did not mean that Peace avoided their first EP. In fact 1998 was one of the most well received songs of the entire gig, as the band expertly built up the Binary Finary cover to end the ten minute song on a triumphant high.
“Peace are a band that are not just about the noise”
Peace also showed that they are able to play slower acoustic songs in this venue, which simply showcased the talent of Harry Koisser’s vocals, and illustrated that Peace are a band that are not just about the noise. Little known song ‘Someday’ was especially well received by the crowd, fans waving their arms in time to the music.
After leaving the stage following ‘Bloodshake’, in which many resorted to moshing and crowd-surfing, the band were faced by the echoing chant of fans yelling “more, more, more…!” So when Peace returned with the drummer Dom Boyce playing a crazy solo before Peace launched into ‘Lovesick’ fans were satisfied. The gig ended appropriately with second album track ‘World Pleasure’ and Rock City erupted in noise.
Ben Westwall
