Sea Girls Heat Up A Cold December Night At Alexandra Palace
Photo by Leon Lewis
Donning a red polo and black blazer, Henry Camamile storms onto the stage of Sea Girls’ biggest headline show ever, belting out one of the band's catchiest songs, ‘Damage Done’. With the audience's hands pointing towards the stage like skewered marshmallows towards a bonfire, and their voices ardently adding volume to the flame, Sea Girls's set at Alexandra Palace definitely heated up the frosty first night of December.
Addressing the audience after this song, Camamile encouraged a night of excitement and energy, and ended his introduction honourably: "No man f**ks with any woman at a Sea Girls show". The band then began the slow buildup of ‘Lucky’, which is an anthem of appreciation for a life we all take for granted, and fittingly repeats “I’m on fire tonight”.
Despite Sea Girls’s ‘Hometown Tour’ being intended to promote the recent release of their 2022 album ‘Homesick’, the band frequently visited tracks from all eras of their career thus far. In a stroke of irony, Camamile appeared undeniably comfortable on stage, over one hundred and fifty miles away from his hometown of Lincoln. But, the lead singer was not the only one who showcased a natural ability to perform. Guitarist Rory Young was constantly moving, entranced in the melodic verses and punching choruses of songs such as ‘Hometown’ and ‘Higher’, as Sea Girls struck off each track like a box of matches.
The glowing crowd seemed to waver only when a track ended, as occasionally the startup of the next felt slightly too slow. Camamile, seemingly out of quips and comments, was content with treating many of the interludes as a no man’s land. However, this did make the event of filling the empty space more effective when it happened, particularly when the band dedicated the sentimental track ‘Adored’ to a late friend.
Many fans remained around the edges of the main bulk of the crowd, not needing to be close to the band to see the entire stage. Nevertheless, every member of the wide ranging audience swayed back and forth to the slow rendition of ‘Lonely’, and sat on shoulders or jumped up and down to the freeing chorus of ‘Too Much Fun’.
Despite many of Sea Girls's lyrics being about the normality of life, the encore was far from ordinary. After the steady track of ‘Daisy Daisy’, the venue exploded at the addictive lyrics of Sea Girls’ most popular song ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’. But the intense ending did not finish there, as ‘Call Me Out’ was played right afterwards. Invoking a similar response, Young and Camamile joined each other on the stage’s extension, sinking to the floor whilst both playing guitars. Many fans who had already rushed out would have missed the incredible ending, however, when the last song had apparently finished. One last time Camamile walked up to the microphone, shushed the cheering crowd, and bursted into a final, fiery chorus of the song with the rest of the band.
At times, some lyrics can come across as cheesy, kitsch even. The lines ‘I’m getting sad’ and ‘It’s getting bad’ from the track ‘Sick’ appear harshly forward, especially in Camamile's whiny tone on this song, but the faults of Sea Girls are few and far between. Ending the show with the band members theatrically lining up to face the audience, Sea Girls exited the stage leaving many fans with an unforgettable night. The giant LED 'Sea Girls' logo behind them remained on stage long after they left, as if to singe an emblem of indie entertainment onto the memory of the crowd.
Edited by Talia Andrea, Music Editor
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