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On the first date of Calva Louise's UK tour, Nottingham's Bodega filled up for a jam packed night of electric live music.
Kicking things off were Manchester's Sugarstone, who had enough energy to headline the place. Their brand of electropunk indie rock blended seamlessly with the other two acts, giving the entire show a similar vibe but with three notably distinct twists on one style keeping every artist fresh. Early on was an unexpected yet entirely welcome cover of Closer by Nine Inch Nails, that they absolutely smashed and used to jumpstart the rest of their opening set. A band that showed bags of passion and talent, Sugarstone need to get back to Nottingham as soon as they can to play a much longer set next time, because the crowd were begging for more!
Bobby Wolfgang, formerly Strange Bones, is the touring main support on the tour and the three on stage pulled not a single punch. Dripping with charisma and buzzing with fiery angst, the DnB inflected punky nu metal sound was riveting from start to finish. Such a show could easily have stood up most acts and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Bobby and co returning to Bodega on their own terms in the very near future, but even as a support act they still floored the place. With a Soft Play-style standing drum kit, guitars out of Cyberpunk, a vocalist in the mosh pit and a crowd that lapped up every moment, they were a hit and can be assured of their spot in the audiences memory.
Much as both supporting acts gave it their all to try and take the crown for most memorable act of the night, it was still only ever going to be one name on everybody's lips afterwards - Calva Louise. The multicultural influences of the bands multinational members gives them so many more places to draw influence from that most Brits can't even begin to fathom, and this unique factor makes them so very interesting to listen to and to watch. Their devotion to DIY is also hugely impressive, with French bassist Alizon Taho building a keyboard setup as well as the huge neon light behind Kiwi drummer Ben Parker! Opening with a slow intro underneath narration to help the story of the band's act flow, frontwoman Jess Allanic plays a keyboard riff before rolling it away and reeling off the intro to Belicoso on her guitar. Recent single Under The Skin follows, before Square One and Human Becoming also get thrown into the moshpit that the crowd has become.
Jess then gave a heartfelt speech about her upbringing in Venezuela and how happy she is that her mother could join the band on tour, before asking to sing one of their songs in Spanish to a delighted crowd, who knew that Con Corazón was on its way. After the joy of that song had finally left Jess' face, the monstrous Third Class Citizen gave everyone something to shout about and had Bodega's floor bouncing along with half the room! Over The Threshold and Feast Is Over garnered a similar reaction, and whilst Jess jumped off stage for set closer Oportunista the rhythm section of Alizon and Ben pummelled away onstage to keep driving the show home. The whole band were brilliant from start to finish, and will surely be immensely pleased with the phenomenal reaction the crowd gave them all night. If anything, they might regret not playing for longer!
Words: Jake Longhurst
Photos: Nic Howells
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