Gig Review: Sports Team at Rock City

Words: Katie Lyle
Photos: Jade Vowles
Thursday 18 November 2021
reading time: min, words

Sports Team headlined Rock City with support from Courting and Nottingham band Blondes to bring a night of indie-fuelled chaos as part of their Deep Down Happy tour… 

 

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Support started with Courting, and this band fit perfectly amidst the line up, providing indie, fiery energy to warm up the crowd. To follow, University of Nottingham graduates and indie five-piece Blondes brought blossoming indie rock, their track Coming of Age proving incredibly popular amongst all, with atmospheric and reverb heavy guitars filling the venue. The band brought listeners back to their uni heritage, asking audience members to take their shirts off in an ode to nights out in student club Ocean, for their final track. 

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Sports Team entered with electrifying chaos, frontman Alex Rice bringing a not so subtle yet earnest confidence to the stage that uplifted the audience and had them screaming along to every word. As soon as the band entered, the crowd was moving, and threw the room back to some of the best times in indie guitar music. 

M5 had what seemed like the entirety of Rock City jumping in the air with excitement, as Rice's vocals pierced through the anthemic yet old fashioned layers of guitar. The 6-piece certainly presented something that hasn’t been seen in an indie band for a good few years, and this was evident through the sheer amount of spark that could be felt within the venue. With lyrics romanticising Middle England, the relatability this band provides to their audience is vivid.

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Camel Crew proved to be a favourite, with people singing their heart out, and with such strong instrumentals throughout from the band, Fishing eliciting a similar reaction too. The crowd was a sweaty, uplifting mess, and you could tell frontman Rice thrived off of this. 

The energy just kept growing throughout the show, as mosh pits and crowd surfing continued to increase throughout the show, the encore bringing fan favourite Here’s The Thing

It’s still evident that audiences are euphoric to be back seeing bands live again at Nottingham’s favourite venue, and Sports Team, along with their support acts, filled the venue perfectly. It certainly felt like such an exciting, yet safe space, to experience live music again. 

Sports Team headlined Rock City on Wednesday 17 November. 

 

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