Forward Is The Farewell

I had been looking forward to this gig for a long time as I am a big fan of hellogoodbye and was excited to hear the two support bands – Furthest Drive Home and Forward Is The Farewell as I had not heard them before, but The Garage idiotic policy of IDing everyone meant that I missed the first band Forward Is The Farewell, which I was quite annoyed about. Hopefully I will get a chance to see this band in the future, but as it stands I have no idea what they sound like so cant report back on what they were like on the night, but from the songs I’ve listened to since on their MySpace – they seem like a pretty decent band.

So, the first band I actually saw were Furthest Drive Home – a UK band with a smooth Pop Punk sound. They put in a good set and blasted through a number of their songs, seeming to impress their audience at The Garage. At one stage the singer got hit in the face with a beach ball which was being launched around this excitable crowd, the singer seemed to take this in good humour and carried on the set with a smile on his face. The band currently have an EP out which is available for download off of iTunes, so go and check it out if you like – at 79p a track, you cant go far wrong! Their performance at The Garage seemed pretty tight, and they were definitely a good support band, warming the crowd up nicely for hellogoodbye to come on stage and finish off the gig in style.

After what seemed like an eternity after Furthest Drive Home, hellogoodbye took to the stage with their usual fun time aura, getting the party well and truly started. They played a number of crowd pleasing favourites including the awesome ‘Shimmy Shimmy Quarter Turn,’ the epic ‘Dear Jamie…Sincerely Me,’ and the excellent ‘Bonnie Taylor Shakedown,’ closing their set with superbly with ‘Touchdown Turnaround’ – one of the most truly exciting set finishers I have ever seen. Everyone went absolutely mad to ‘Touchdown Turnaround,’ with everyone in attendance singing along and really getting into this final blast of hellogoodbye goodness. Hopefully the band will be back over these shores in the not too distant future, as their live show is something that is really not to be missed. I don’t think there was a single person at The Garage that didn’t leave with a smile on their face, or in fact leave without ‘Touchdown Turnaround’ stuck well and truly in their head, in fact most people left obliviously singing and humming it.

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