ShareThe Rifles performing at Rock City Nottingham on Saturday 5th March 2016
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
The mods were out in force last night as The Rifles came to Rock City on the sixth leg of their current tour of the UK. With parkas and Paul Weller haircuts in abundance, this quartet from Chingford opened with the lively Heebie Jeebies before proceeding into She’s Got Standards, an old favourite from their debut album, No Love Lost.
The pace is relentless, like most of their songs as they rattled through the first part of their set hardly pausing for breath. There was Sometimes, History and Big Life before Peace And Quiet had the whole venue in full voice.
The raucous crowd get themselves a well-earned rest as the band take a break to allow Joel Stoker and Lucas Crowther to play a few acoustic tracks and show off their considerable song writing talent. It provides a more intimate experience and a chance to hear the poignant lyrics of Spend A Lifetime and Coming Home, which have enabled the band to build up such a strong loyal following.
We were treated to three new tunes, all punchy and very up tempo numbers; a very promising sign for their eagerly awaited fifth album, which we were told would be out in June.
The Rifles returned to play an encore of Under And Over which elicits a cracking response, but it was the chorus of Romeo And Julie that echoed around Rock City as the fans made their way home. The Rifles had been loud, rowdy and full of fun, and their set had come to an end all too soon.