By Andras Paul, Rock At Night London
Live Review: St. Agnes with Cameron Sanderson-Scala, London – July 1, 2022
There is one good thing for sure about our post-pandemic times–Saint Agnes will be playing more live shows. This is coming from a person who has constantly attended most of their shows through the years. I haven’t seen them since last year’s epic gig at The Garage. Already with a massive tour behind them which began in April and before getting into summer festival season, the band jumped in for a hot ride set at London’s famous live venue Scala in the King’s Cross neighbourhood. The concert was supported by Housed by Face Down, a much loved alt night organiser which sets up gigs based on fan reviews.
Being the first gig I attended since my camera was stolen from a pub back in February, I definitely found it empowering to start with one of my favourite DIY bands–Saint Agnes!
The evening’s support act was young titan Cameron Sanderson with his unique half-singing, half-rap vocal style. He is pretty well-known among the younger audience. Although I didn’t really research his musical history, he and his band definitely nailed it on stage creating quite an enlightening show.
Suddenly the background music faded and we could hear an attractive introduction, presumably a pre-recorded synth. Then, the show kicked off with “And They All Fall Down”, a hit from The Family Strange EP released more than two years ago. I truly love its presence.
Andy, behind the drums performed painstakingly and tirelessly as the main motor of the band along with spiced up fuzzy riffs with Jon on the main guitar. The band featured Jake, a new bass player from the band Press To Meco. His stage work is beyond awesome and matched perfectly with the rest of the band.
There’s some uniqueness St. Agnes brings to the stage every time I see them playing live. Heavy prep work must be implemented behind the scene to achieve the organic flow of each song.
“I’m With You Everywhere You Go”, “Vampire”, which is from the album of the same name released last year, and “Daughter of Lucifer” from EP The Family Strange followed. Again, the pacing was unapologetically unstoppable.
Although they seemed inexhaustible, in the middle of Prodigy cover “Firestarter”, lead singer Kitty directed the audience to stand down for a second saying, “Every mother fucker in the room, you can get down!”
She continued asking, “How you feelin’? You are all right? Are you ready?”
This allowed the band members to take a moment to breathe and then .. one, two, three, four and the stage fired up again like it never stopped at all.
“Uppercut” followed and the lyrics hit home:
Die, fucking die!/Insecurity getting the best of me/ Die, yeah, fucking die!I’m my own worst enemy/It’ll be the death of me.
Go on and check this song. All songs.
Before they unleashed the last song, lead guitarist Jon asked, “Who’s gonna’ come see Saint Agnes again?!”
“Repent”was on the last one in the setlist. The band was joined by Mimi Barks a metal singer from Berlin, who is now based in the UK. She supported Saint Agnes on their April tour. Please give her a listen if you can.
And that’s that. Saint Agnes never does encore. Squeezing the maximum of their musical life force onto the stage is a one way ride.
There’s a saying in my country of a true performer: “You must collapse while rehearsing and have to die on stage”. Once they die on stage they never come back. Don’t worry, they’ll resurrect on the next one like true vampires.
There you go. I only started enjoying the gig and they’re off stage already. Well, there’s more on the horizon coming. The 2000 Trees festival is right up the corner next week.
PHOTO GALLERY
VIDEOS
“Uppercut!”
“Repent”
Cameron Sanderson “What Do You Want? “
SOCIAL MEDIA
Saint Agnes instagram @wearesaintagnes
Andras Paul came from a traditional art background back in Hungary. He studied drawing, painting and animation and later began his interest in photography too.
Open to any kind of gig with decent music-- let it be a big concert or the smallest darkest pub on earth.
- Saint Agnes brings London along for a hot ride at Scala - July 3, 2022
- Rock at Night tapped into an awesome night of rock ‘n’ roll with Backyard Babies - February 2, 2020
- Palaye Royale wraps up the European tour at Electric Brixton, London - October 8, 2018
