Amber Herd - Hasland Theatre, Chesterfield, 5/7/2014

  by Dave Goodwin

published: 18 / 7 / 2014

intro

Dave Goodwin watches post-punk/alt.rock Amber Herd play a stunning show to launch their debut album in the unusual venue of the Hasland Thatre in Chesterfield

A warm night saw us drive up north to see the debut album release from the Amber Herd, a multi-faceted post-punk, alt-rock band made up of five super talented chaps from Nottingham and Chesterfield. There were about a hundred Herd fans packed into the Hasland Theatre just outside Chesterfield, which seemed like an unlikely venue but proved a winner. The Hasland is an old but quaint little theatre that has still kept all of its original charm and one that holds a decent sized stage with a backdrop made for Amber Herd’s images to be projected on to. The Amber Herd are made up of Neil Beards (vocals and acoustic guitar), Rob Fitzmaurice (bass), Mark Lasbury ( percussion), Ollie Powditch (keyboards) and Paul Wentworth (electric guitar), and the event had been set up because their eagerly awaited new album ‘Our Only Eden’ had finally being unleashed on their quickly growing fanbase and the general public. The lights went down,and, as a series of morse code beats rung out across the theatre, the band made their way from behind to the front to rapturous applause and went straight into the first track on the new album ‘Three Ring Circus’ followed by another new track ‘Another River’. Although I had seen the Amber Herd before on a few occasions, this was something totally different. The quality of the lyric and sound and the overall professional production of this band now was phenomenal. The crowd too by now was also feeling the vibe. This was really good. As the tracks kept coming, there were some powerful and thought-provoking images being transferred to the backdrop. Shots of orphan children and fighting from all corners of the world accompanied ‘Girl in the War’ to startling effect. They finished off with three songs from the album, ‘Leaving Home’, ‘Tin Man’ and Into Land’. The optical and audio feast was at its height with the addition of Rein Ove Sikveland on viola and Lilly Beards on backing vocals. This was a tight and well organised show from a group of musicians that had clearly thought about what they want to offer in terms both visually and in terms of music, and have been able to take what they have recorded on to this new album on to the stage and make it work. One thinks it won't be long before they break into the mainstream and have themselves a great future.

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