A pinnacle performance of the year: SPRINTS race for gold in their cathartic celebrations at Nottingham's Rescue Rooms...
Silhouetted within the emo apocalypticism – or perhaps the smoke machine is its own paid actor because we don’t get a single glimpse of the band; the smoke is that dense they’re literally just silhouettes – Belfast duo Chalk screeched onto the stage. Frontman Ross Cullen transforms their post-punk soundscapes into a tangible one, utilising the negative space around him to launch kick the air and writhe around on the ground. Their lyrical despair takes the audience on this ghost train of instrumental brutalism, twisting and turning and aptly arriving in time for our headliner.
It’s not often that an artist will tour twice in the one year. Their Nottingham debut only months prior in The Bodega has taken them on the road ever since. SPRINTS conclude their epiphanous tour in Rescue Rooms, and with demand selling out a venue capped at 400 capacity, we’re honestly surprised they’ve not been upgraded to the venue next door.
We’re induced within an overwhelmingly all-red lighting display. An already vitalised atmosphere from the get-go; a tense bassline begins over opening track To The Bone, frontwoman Karla Chubb coyly swaggering into position to hollering cheers. She exudes a fortitude of vocality, a haunting quality to the song. Releasing the hounds of thrashing guitars upon the crowd, Shadow of a Doubt chases us into the mosh pit – it’s clear on this second leg of tour, their debut album Letter to Self has had ample time to settle into the playlists of dedicated and casual listeners alike.
The night gave SPRINTS the platform to flaunt their most recent single release Feast. Brazen and forthright is their signature, and we certainly ate up this two and a half-minute sledgehammer of a song, the mosh opening up further ahead of I’m in a Band. Chubb does have to pause the pandemonium momentarily: an emphasis on not forcing people into the circle if they do not want to, she decries against the noise-rock to show commendable concern for the concertgoers.
Easing back in with Shaking Their Hands, we indulged in a respite with a more forgiving drum section and Chubb on acoustic. Of course, this wasn’t to last too long – the crowd was almost itching with vibrations, the amps doing nothing to soothe their need to simply move. “Let’s have some f*****g fun, Nottingham!” We’re ordered, and it’s almost pantomime-esque bedlam the way we oblige in our moshing duties once more. “Be ready to sweat in your body! Embrace it!”
Up And Comer blends a medley of instrumental nihilism and despair into Cathedral. The band are relentless in their playing techniques, it would be a surprise if the drumskins weren’t blistered and their guitar strings weren’t bloodied.
This motif of urgency is carried forward in a small yet empowering speech: “It’s a scary time to be a woman, queer, a person of colour, an immigrant. To have a platform is a privilege; it’s our moral responsibility to use it because we’re gonna come out of this stronger and better together.
“We’re just four friends that wanted to make music and make sense of the world – I wouldn’t be the woman I am today without the supportive men behind me.”
On a fiery note, an encore is disregarded and we’re bursting straight through to our final song of the night, Little Fix. Reciting a monologue of the lyrics in the same vein of a poetry reading, nothing more than a mechanic hum in the background, isn’t the most unconventional thing we’ve seen at a gig. It’s intriguing, however; a hauntingly ominous method of performance art which seems to solidify SPRINTS as one of the greats. Introducing Chalk back on stage and proceeding to play Little Fix in its usual high gear, this freed up the frontwoman to part the crowd like that of the Red Sea.
Your last image of the night is Chubb surfing all the way back to the stage, content with arms stretched out in commandeering catharsis. The lights are going ten to the dozen; the band are in a self-celebratory high as they welcome her back on stage. If you were at this show tonight, dear reader: count yourself lucky. We don’t think you’ll be seeing them in such an intimate venue for a long time.
SPRINTS performed at Rescue Rooms on 30th November 2024, with support from Chalk.
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