Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
The Garage always feels like a bit of a hidden gem; big enough to feel like a proper gig, small enough to feel like you’re in on something. It suits Himalayas perfectly. By the time they hit the stage just after 9:15, the place has filled out nicely, even if it took a while to get here. A shame, really, because what follows is a tight, relentless set that more people deserved to witness.
Juju opens the night with a dark, riffy set that lands somewhere between Royal Blood and Siouxsie Sioux. Confident, a little chaotic, and packed with potential. She captivates the smattering of fans already present; creating any form of atmosphere in a mostly-empty venue is no mean feat (seriously, are people just too quirky and mysterious to arrive in time to see the support acts now?) but she manages it and capably holds her own.
Luna Bay follows with a much poppier affair. It’s a smoother, more polished set, their sound very much in the Catfish and the Bottlemen lane, but they play it well, and there’s clearly an audience for it. Maybe not the most original band of the night, but they hold their own.
Then, Himalayas arrive – uniform jackets and all. As the first notes of “Beneath the Barrel,” envelope the room, the anticipation is palpable. From there, it’s clear they are here to make a point. The set is tight, heavy, and completely locked in from the start. Every transition feels natural, every track hits hard. The whole set flows seamlessly from there, each song bleeding into the next without losing any of its raw edge. It’s a rare balance; polished without being sterile, loud without being messy.
There isn’t a lot of talking between songs, which worked in their favour. The momentum builds quickly and never really dipped. “What If…?” and “Thank God I’m Not You” land like anthems, and tracks like “Heavy Weather” and “Twisted Reflections” show off just how far the band’s sound has come. They come back for an encore, though this is no surprise – eloquently put by lead guitarist Mike Griffiths, “we’re just going for a wee and then we’ll come back and do an encore” – though to be fair, no one in the room expects the set to end without hearing those few tracks. The tracks in question were ‘Cave Paintings’ and ‘Flatline’, before the night ends on the surprising but brilliant “From Hell to Here / Gangsta’s Paradise” mashup, which somehow just worked.
The crowd isn’t rowdy, but they were locked in and clearly into it. Plenty of movement down the front, and a good energy that built steadily throughout the set. It might not have been the wildest crowd the band’s ever played to, but it was warm, loud in all the right places, and fully on board by the end.
It’s clear Himalayas are operating on another level right now. The setlist, the stage presence, the sound – it all came together in a way that felt effortless. If this is where they’re at now, the next step up feels inevitable.
KATHRYN EDWARDS
Juju opens the night with a dark, riffy set that lands somewhere between Royal Blood and Siouxsie Sioux. Confident, a little chaotic, and packed with potential. She captivates the smattering of fans already present; creating any form of atmosphere in a mostly-empty venue is no mean feat (seriously, are people just too quirky and mysterious to arrive in time to see the support acts now?) but she manages it and capably holds her own.
Luna Bay follows with a much poppier affair. It’s a smoother, more polished set, their sound very much in the Catfish and the Bottlemen lane, but they play it well, and there’s clearly an audience for it. Maybe not the most original band of the night, but they hold their own.
Then, Himalayas arrive – uniform jackets and all. As the first notes of “Beneath the Barrel,” envelope the room, the anticipation is palpable. From there, it’s clear they are here to make a point. The set is tight, heavy, and completely locked in from the start. Every transition feels natural, every track hits hard. The whole set flows seamlessly from there, each song bleeding into the next without losing any of its raw edge. It’s a rare balance; polished without being sterile, loud without being messy.
There isn’t a lot of talking between songs, which worked in their favour. The momentum builds quickly and never really dipped. “What If…?” and “Thank God I’m Not You” land like anthems, and tracks like “Heavy Weather” and “Twisted Reflections” show off just how far the band’s sound has come. They come back for an encore, though this is no surprise – eloquently put by lead guitarist Mike Griffiths, “we’re just going for a wee and then we’ll come back and do an encore” – though to be fair, no one in the room expects the set to end without hearing those few tracks. The tracks in question were ‘Cave Paintings’ and ‘Flatline’, before the night ends on the surprising but brilliant “From Hell to Here / Gangsta’s Paradise” mashup, which somehow just worked.
The crowd isn’t rowdy, but they were locked in and clearly into it. Plenty of movement down the front, and a good energy that built steadily throughout the set. It might not have been the wildest crowd the band’s ever played to, but it was warm, loud in all the right places, and fully on board by the end.
It’s clear Himalayas are operating on another level right now. The setlist, the stage presence, the sound – it all came together in a way that felt effortless. If this is where they’re at now, the next step up feels inevitable.
KATHRYN EDWARDS