More often than not Twitter hype does not guarantee filling out a venue; but for RAT BOY’s headline show at Tut’s, if you weren’t ready and queuing for doors opening you were forced to watch by the entrance standing on your tip-toes to see the stage.
Each opening guitar riff is like a call to arms to the crowd who react to each song with an enthusiastic roar.
For those in the back it is a struggle to see the stage, through all of the arms waving in the air.
Show highlight, ‘Sign On’ comes across like an anthem for the cast down millennial generation, with nearly every person in the crowd singing-along like the song was written for just them.
It is evident that this fan favourite will be a song that will follow them for the rest of their career.
‘Left 4 Dead’, a song that’s a cocktail of jangly guitars with gloomy, ominous undertone, brings to mind the songwriting of a young Alex Turner without venturing into copycat territory.
While it’s the guitars that people are thrashing their bodies along to, it is the lyrics that really make Rat Boy stand out in a sea of guitar bands trying to make it big.
You can see in the eyes in the spectators that they can relate to what he is singing about as they sing the lyrics back to him.
The set, which can’t have lasted much more than 30 minutes, shows bags of potential for the act that has only been around for about half a year.
As the show finishes, RAT BOY steps off the stage into the crowd and is immediately lost in a flurry of passionate fans, who break out singing the chorus of ‘Sign On’ to him to show their appreciation.
Words: Hannah Moore
Photos: Elina Lin
