Two gigs, one common thread of musical joy

better joy and Bottlemoth — live in London

Two gig reports in one post! You’re being treated dear readers. Or maybe it’s just a way for me to cut some corners. You can decide.

Anyhow, I’m here to share thoughts on two bands I watched recently at two different grassroots London venues. Last week, I caught better joy at The Old Blue Last. It feels like I’ve been mentioning Bria Keely and the band quite a lot recently — for good reason. The Manchester-based group are riding a wave of warm feelings, with a well-received EP recently released to the world and a largely sold-out tour now completed.

Bria Keely of better joy at The Old Blue Last

better joy’s music is characterised by a beautiful (and apt) joyfulness, an unbridled release of emotion which brings bright colour to the sound, alongside some more exposing themes. The live experience took that and pushed it further forward — there was the typical additional layer of rawness you’d expect from a small-room performance, but it was an excited and thrilling type of energy which rebounded from the dark-painted walls.

The set started with an instant infectious buzz as the band launched into the rapid, jangly chords of ‘Situations’, Bria grinning as she sung. Her greeting to the crowd as the song ended was full of genuine thrill, and there were plenty of other moments like that during the set.

The band powered through older and newer material, as well as some unreleased songs: ‘This Part Of Town’ had a great flow, and Bria’s vocals reminded me of Emmy Lou Harris in places — soaring, emotive and wide open.

My favourite better joy song is ‘Quiet Thing’, and it sounded great played live, spot-on and ending with a spine-tingling acapella moment. That one led into a cover of New Radicals ‘You Get What You Give’ — it was thrilling to see Bria’s modesty as she introduced the song, with a comment that some people may want to join in, turned into incredulous happiness as the room was filled with the sound of a huge singalong.

‘Carnival’ was pure fun and ‘what a day’ became huge, joyous and a bit mad as the band, driven by the audience, dialled up the energy a further notch. Bria’s grin grew even bigger as she exhorted us to join in again: “You know what to do!!!!”

It was impressive to see the extent to which Bria had the room absolutely under her control during the performance, wordlessly leading the audience to crouch, jump, hush or make noise, as everyone was swept along by a wave of good-natured, communal celebration.

More recently (Wednesday) I was at The Grace where Bottlemoth were supporting China Bears. I wrote about Bottlemoth’s brilliant album ‘Even Us Ghosts’ last year (and made it one of my top ten) but just kept missing their gigs until timings finally aligned this week.

Support acts sometimes have a tough job, trying to sell their unknown wares over a very short period of time: Bottlemoth took that challenge and grabbed it with all their hands. I expected a relatively relaxed, folk-tinged set; what I got was so much more than that. The band commented at one point how they love to play live, and that was more than obvious from the way they approached this 30-minute set. It was full-on from the start to the last moments of: not a moment wasted. Leading from front and centre, Ethan was the picture of intense, committed passion.

The half hour featured some songs from Bottlemoth’s 2024 debut album and much older material, too (the band have plenty of experience to draw on).

After two punchy album songs — ‘Landslides (People Change)’ and ‘You’ll Always Have Us’ — we heard the older ‘Maths, Science & English’, which seemed to soar up to and through the ceiling. It was a really impressive start, and I heard several murmurs of approval from people around me who were hearing the band for the first time.

‘More Than Before’ was an older song which led into the night’s highlight for me, ‘Tattoo’. The punchy drums supported the beautifully euphoric guitars, Chessa’s subtle keyboard underpinnings, and Ethan’s yearning vocals. This is also where we hear the lyrics, “Even us ghosts, we still feel numb,” and of course, the fitting and movingly uplifting final words "Don't be too hard on yourself”.

After that, the band returned to 2019 for ‘Wishbone', an emotive, rising and falling song, before going even further back for 2017’s ‘BFF’, a rich, heavy and powerful way to finish.

This was a tight, impressive and well-curated set from Bottlemoth; a statement of ability and intent; a marker in the sand.

The photos below of China Bears and Bottlemoth come courtesy of my gig buddy (and new Bottlemoth fan)

Greg Foxsmith

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Bottlemoth: Even Us Ghosts [Album]