It is only fitting that local band Superfood played a homecoming show at Birmingham’s Rainbow Warehouse. The place is a small but homely and beloved venue to many underground and unsigned bands, B-Town pals Peace and Swim Deep having previously played there. The four-piece were playing their first of only two headline shows (the other being at London’s Heaven), with the likes of fellow Brummie band JAWS in and amongst the crowd.
Support came from the very ‘noisy’ bands Black Honey (an audience member claiming them to be ‘a female Wytches’) and Yak, the latter set to support Peace on their headline tour in September this year alongside Splashh. The bands brought with them a mosh pit of ‘indie’ kids, complete with dungarees, sunglasses and faces covered in glitter: this set the scene for what was to be a pretty manic show.
Kicking off the set with fan favourites ‘You Can Believe’ and ‘Bubbles’, the crowd were in uproar – if you’d wanted to even attempt to dance along, you’d have struggled. The transitions between tracks were seamless, and illustrated just how tight the band as a unit have become on tour. The brilliant thing about Superfood is how their live sound is so different – not as contained as on their debut Don’t Say That – and yet how they still manage to sound just like their recorded selves (if not better).
Frontman Dom Ganderton alluded to the madness of the crowd, commenting on how it was “amazing” for us all to be there where the band first met, “probably down there somewhere” before performing ‘Melting’. ‘Like A Daisy’ changed the pace ever so slightly, the crowd having a quick break and instead using their energy to sing along. Bass-tastic ‘Don’t Say That’ was a highlight, showcasing Dom’s vocal capabilities, the lyrics “everything you do / just so cool” being terrifically apt (both when talking the performance and also bassist Emily Baker’s gorgeous velvet jumpsuit).
The band then delved into material they don’t tend to play live too often, ‘It’s Good To See You’ (a personal favourite of mine) being met with rapturous cheers from the teen-dominated audience and quickly following up with MAM track ‘Houses On The Plain’. They faded this perfectly into the start of brooding ‘Mood Bomb’ and then ‘Right On Satellite’, two of Superfood’s most sing-along worthy efforts. The latter two setlist inclusions caused several incidents of crowd-surfing and the movement of barriers due to its sheer force. However this didn’t phase the band; the smiles on their faces suggested they were lapping up every second. The band ended with ‘TV’, one of the tracks on Don’t Say That that has been highlighted by many as one that showcases their 90s influences best, having drawn similarities to that of Britpop icons Blur and the like.
Giving us a two-minute breather (absolutely necessary at this point), the band ran back on stage for a short but sweet encore. ‘Lily For Your Pad To Rest On’ signalled a sing-along so loud, the band couldn’t really be heard over it. Arms were waving wildly and bodies were jumping – Emily even attempted to crowd-surf herself – as the band performed their final song of the night, self-titled ‘Superfood’. You could still the falsetto chorus to this being sung down the streets of Birmingham town centre long after the lights went up and it was obvious the crowd didn’t want the show to end; crowd members slurred swears and chanted “SUPERFOOD” in an attempt to entice them back on stage.
Having now perfected their live skills and set to take a few months off to write some “nice, new tunes”, who knows what’s next for Superfood? You can believe they’ll be playing bigger venues on their next trip around B-Town.
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Words by Kirstie Sutherland
[Originally posted on Redbrick Music]
Kirstie Sutherland 