Gig review: We Are Scientists at Rock City

One thing that has always irked me about some shows is when there is a long, tiring wait for live music, but here it was sudden. Within 20 minutes of the doors opening, the first support act was up on stage singing - and it was someone that I have buckets and buckets of respect for. I first caught Joel Foster playing BBC Introducing, and he struck me as someone to keep an eye out for. Tonight he kept himself in my field of view.

Joel is just so insanely talented with both his voice and instruments that it makes me jealous. He sings with such ability and plays the keys and guitar brilliantly. The standout of his set had to be Liberty - it showed off his vocal chops and his piano playing brilliantly - but every song was equally as entrancing. 

Next up was the Northern Irish singer Ghoulgirl, whose songs sound like they are straight out of the saddest scene in a coming-of-age film. She sang with such ache that it nearly brought a tear to my eye. With her short set she left such an impact on me, and it is unlikely I will ever forget that voice.

The beauty of opening bands is that sense of discovery, that idea that you can see someone and find your new favourite small artist- and I believe that happened to me with Ghoulgirl.

Finally, with anticipation destroying the crowd, We Are Scientists swaggered onto the stage. Almost immediately, they broke into the first song from the album, Nobody Move, Nobody Get Hurt, with its jittery, angular riff sending me and the rest of the room into a state of noughties euphoria. The best way to describe how I felt hearing this track live, and the entire set, is ‘anemoia’ - a nostalgia for a time you never experienced.  I was not present for the indie boom of the mid 2000s, and yet hearing Keith Murray’s amazing vocals and guitar work just captivated me and made it as if I was there.

When I was leaving, I heard someone comment on how they knew every single word to every track on the record due to the fact they could not skip songs. This idea was shown to me clearly just by watching the crowd. They knew every word, every break, every solo, and every groove. On the technical side, the entire band was absolutely class; they have not aged in looks and skills over these 20 years. Keith Murray, especially, sounded so fresh that I was concerned at first that it was a pretape! It is so rare to find a band that sounds better than they did when they first came out, but We Are Scientists are just so talented of a group, so disciplined, that the record sounds inferior to them now.

Another thing to note is just how funny this band are. The banter between Murray and bassist Chris Cain was genuinely endearing and showed a sense of care for their fans, and the ability to not take themselves so seriously. About halfway through the album play-through, Murray got into the crowd to sing with a couple of fans, showing off this band's swagger and proving they are seasoned veterans of performing.

Other standouts of the set were The Great Escape and Rules Don’t Stop - as the band just had an energy that just wouldn’t quit, with the first of those songs  specifically showing the talent of Chris Cain and drummer Keith Carne - absolute powerhouses on their respective instruments.

One specific event of note came near the end of the anthemic track Cut My Own Hair: there was a fake-out ending as Murray and Cain chatted with the crowd about Goose Fair and a seemingly fake, similarly named event in Queens. With the crowd’s guard down, they suddenly burst into the final chorus. I really liked this twist on their discography - the fact they would have so much fun and go out of their way to surprise the audience out of nowhere.

After, perhaps, the shortest wait for an encore I have ever experienced (to be fair, it was around six minutes until curfew on a club night), they came back and played two more tracks - Less from You and After Hours. Something to mention is just how talented Murray is on lead guitar, as in both tracks (and the rest of the set) he ripped blistering solos that grabbed the crowd in a way I have rarely seen.

In an instance of life imitating art, the final track After Hours finished past the curfew, and as We Are Scientists walked off to thunderous applause, all I could feel was the power of music. So much has happened since 2005, so much pain and sorrow, and so much happiness and love, and yet some things stay constant in people’s hearts. Music comes and music goes, like everything, but in that room, we were all connected by one album. Was With Love and Squalor the best-selling album of 2005? No, but that does not matter - people have had it close to their heart for 20 years and they will never let it go. Tolstoy said that time, alongside patience, was the most powerful warriors in the universe, but I disagree. It is people, it is heart, it is music.

@wearescientists

We Are Scientists performed at Rock City on 1 October 2026