As the shows begin to quiet down towards Christmas and the New Year, a hometown performance at Billy Bootleggers for much loved local band Confyde was welcome news and a perfect way to get out of the horrendous weather for a few hours of heavy metal huddling...
Opening the night's entertainment were a relatively new band to the local music scene, Firmament. Only having formed last year and releasing their first single, Avatar, in February this year, the female-fronted five piece are out to make a name for themselves and certainly did no harm to that with a fantastic opening performance. Powerful and crisp vocals paired with a full, enveloping rhythm and solid bass and drum foundations, the band deliver a wonderful, modern take on a traditional Metal sound. I thoroughly enjoyed this taster of what Firmament has to offer and hope to see plenty more of them as we venture into the new year.
Hystamine have been tirelessly hitting Nottingham music venues throughout 2024. Having released their album Endorphin just last year, the students of our very own Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies already have a strong back catalogue of songs with deep lyrical content exploring topics such as sexuality and mental health and raw, and heavy sounds to accompany them. Their set was an excellent example of what they have to offer and they amassed a strong crowd early into the evening’s proceedings. The combination of the dark musical content and playful on stage antics make the band an absolute joy to watch as I have done on multiple occasions now, it doesn’t feel like we are awfully far away from seeing Hystamine with their own run of headline Nottingham shows and I, for one, will be first in line when they do.
As the only band on the night’s roster who were not Nottingham based, it could be argued that Them Bloody Kids had the most difficult job ahead of them to win the crowd over. Any doubts, though I’m sure there were none, were quickly dispelled as the band leapt into their fierce set of hits featuring stand out songs such as My Friend and System Corrupted it was easy to see why Confyde were so keen to tempt them up north and why it was Them Bloody Kids who were headlining the reverse fixture in Camden Town just a few weeks earlier. Their performance even saw a special appearance from Confyde’s own lead vocalist Martin as he took to the stage for an exciting cover of System of a Down’s Sugar The set was an engaging and exciting one with the band showing an immediate rapport with the crowd. I have no doubt this won't be their final Nottingham show and hopefully upon their return there will already be some dedicated fans forged on this night awaiting them.
After a short time away from their hometown of Nottingham, Confyde are back and raring to go! Having already announced a handful of shows, and the promise of an eagerly awaited new EP, 2025 is sure to be a huge year in the story of Confyde and this fiery headline show was an excellent way to kick that off.
The set was a fantastic collection of already popular hits such as Man Down, Unashamed and Scalper which was released just earlier this year. The setlist was only fortified by a cover of B*Witched’s C’est La Vie which may sound unusual in writing, considering the significant stylistic differences between Confyde and the pop legends, however the cover was so masterfully executed in the band’s signature style that one may not have realised that it was a cover had you not recognised the iconic lyrics of the 90s hit. The crowd were even fortunate enough to witness the full band debut of new song Once Broken which went down an absolute treat and only added to the growing excitement for the aforementioned 2025 EP launch.
The energy within the room was a stark contrast to the bleak weather thrust upon Nottingham by Storm Darragh. Dancing, headbanging and most importantly smiling throughout the entirety of the set, the crowd was feeding off the energy of the band who made it very clear that they were thrilled to be back playing a hometown show.
Additional commendations must be thrown towards frontman Martin who orchestrated the whole evening, making sure the whole event ran smoothly, sourcing a wonderful selection of support bands and even handling ticket sales on the door. It’s great to have this level of commitment to putting on a show for the local scene showcasing the best that Nottingham has to offer and attracting exciting talent from further afield, and we hope this no doubt whirlwind of an experience hasn’t put Martin off doing another stellar job at managing events in the future.
The whole show felt exactly as a hometown show should, with friends and music enthusiasts alike just bursting with joy to have Confyde back in Nottingham with a bright future to look forward to, paired with excitement for the future of the local scene on display from the young local bands Hystamine and Firmament and of course the excellent showing from Them Bloody Kids who could have easily been headlining a show in their own right. A perfect way to shelter from the dark chill of the end of 2024 and a reason to look forward to the coming year.
Confyde performed at Billy Bootleggers on 8th December 2024, with support from Them Bloody Kids, Hystamine and Firmament.
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