Dudley based Soley Mourning opened the night for headlining act Logan, to a respectably full room for a Sunday night.

The five piece opened with new track Remove, a power pop ditty which kicked the evening off in fine form. With what little stage space the band had, they worked well with it and frontman Matt demonstrated his natural ability as a showman, moving around the stage as if it was thrice its actual size.

Soley Mourning are well known on the Midlands circuit and their three years together has given them that much needed experience to perfect their art of performance. Old school fans of the band will be familiar with their blend of funk and pop rock melodies and good catalogue of catchy little gems from their first album Mambo County. After touring their last release relentlessly for the past two years, Soley Mourning were keen to introduce fans to some new material which is due to be recorded later this year. There were some pleasant surprises from the band’s set tonight and while the sugar coated pop essence in their music still remains, Soley Mourning appear to be wading into the deeper waters of the slightly harder edge of rock music.

Bridges was the standout track of the evening with a corker of an intro reminiscent of Van Halen’s Ain’t Talking About Love. Structurally, Bridges is a masterpiece with great vocals, solid and precise drum beats and a stunning breakdown in the middle eight similar to Queens of the Stone Age’s No one Knows.

Full set list

Remove
Wake up Calling
Bridges
Rio
City
Easylife
All Along the Watchtower

MySpace.com - soleymourning - Birmingham, UK - Rock / Grunge / Alternative - www.myspace.com/soleymourning

Mel Jones